Revenge is Bittersweet
by Obscuris
Summary: An evil being is seeking revenge, and our heroes are thrown into quite an adventure! How will they survive? NOTE: This fic is as ollllld as the food behind the fridge, and it was formerly an RP, so you'll see stuff whathow I normally don't write!
1. Default Chapter

"Revenge is Bittersweet", Chapter One  
  
by VTBots and DragonShadow83 (from RP'ing)  
  
NOTE: No, this is not a sequel to Animalistic Animosity. Think of this as an... "alternate universe" or something. This is also based on the American version of all three games. (I never played any of the Japanese versions, though I heard about a major difference between the versions in one of the stages of UmJammer Lammy...)  
  
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Ahhhhh... A fine, beautiful early afternoon in a nameless small town in a crazy, cartoon world full of anthromorphic beings, live inanimate object people, and even some human beings! A fine, beautiful day like this ought to be taken advantage of by couples everywhere. In fact, one certain couple we know and (maybe) love _are_ using this fine, beautiful day to enjoy themselves... with ice cream! Yes, the lovely sunflower Sunny Funny and the rapping hero Parappa are staring lovey-dovey at each other--or at least Parappa is--eating their chosen ice cream in the local ice cream parlor. Such a casual, romantic moment together.  
  
However, Sunny appears to have something on her mind. Something that seems to be hard for her to bring out. Parappa, being too busy staring into the loveliness of his girlfriend, pays no attention to this as he slurps on his oh-so-delicious desert. A thought war rages in her mind: "Should I tell him? No, don't tell him! But you must! But it would-- Shut up! You're going to tell him whether you like it or not!" Finally, the mind battle ends as she sighs, defeated, and sadly places her yellow hand on Parappa's paw, but smiles to hide her negative feelings.  
  
"Parappa... Ummm... I need to... talk to you..."  
  
Parappa slurps on his ice cream, still smiling. "'Bout what?"  
  
"Well..." She turns her head away, finding it very difficult to bring out her thoughts to her boyfriend. "Look, I... just don't... think we should... go out... anymore...."  
  
The puppy's eyes widen and his ears perk up at the news. He just sits there, pausing, not saying anything for a minute. Then, as sudden as his silence, he bursts out laughing. "Hahahahaha, oh, I'm sorry Sunny! (slurp) I thought I just heard you say that we're breaking up or something." He wipes a tear away, still snickering in amusement. "Boy, what an imagination I have..."  
  
But Sunny does not appear to be joking at all... which begins to worry our poor rapstar hero. "Well, what I mean is...," she sighs, "I'm a... and you're a... My Dad says inter-lifeform relationships don't work."  
  
"...what?" Parappa opens his mouth in shock; like a cold stake has been thrusted into his heart, shattering it to itty, bitty pieces.  
  
"I mean, if it were just different species it would be one thing, but... We're not even in the same catergory."  
  
"But..." The dog boy begins, his ears beginning to droop, whimpering like a little puppy.  
  
"I'm sorry, Parappa, but it just can't work. Flowers can't date dogs..." Then she suddenly exclaims with a frown, "You pee on us!"  
  
Parappa, blushing with embarrassment and shame, opens his mouth to protest, feeling a bit offended, but closes it immediately, knowing what she said is true. All he can do is sink into his chair, whimpering.  
  
Sunny continues with the longest sigh in the conversation: "So I'm sorry, I just cannot see you anymore... G... Goodbye, Parappa."  
  
And with that she stands up with tears in her eyes and turns to leave. Parappa, shaking his head as if having a nightmare, whimpers again and again "No, no, no..." until finally he springs from his chair, dropping his ice cream in the process, and grabs Sunny's hand, halting her marching out of there.  
  
"W-Wait," he says as he turns his former girlfriend around. "...since this's our last moment as boyfriend and girlfriend... uh..."  
  
Slowly but savory, he leans over and kisses her flower friend on the lips briefly, ignoring the "Awww"s or the "OOOOOooooooo"s or even the "Ewwwwww"s as he holds the kiss their for minutes, their last kiss as a couple ever, sadly. Finally, they break away and Sunny, sniffling, turns away again and leaves, looking back to her former boyfriend one more time before another tear from her eye falls, plopping unto the hard ground, before she waves and leaves Parappa's life as his girlfriend forever.  
  
The little hero waves back to her as he watches her leave sadly, his own tears pouring out, but suppresses any incoming sobs. Finally, he jumps on the table, then shouts out angrily, asking the entire town: "Whhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!?!?"  
  
Suddenly, Sunny Funny, in cartoony speed, zips back in, calmly saying to him, "I told you!" before leaving as abrupt as she entered.  
  
Parappa, sweatdropping, slithers like a slug back into his chair, his heart broken like glass, his eyes watering like a small waterfall, his ears drooping like that of a certain other cartoon dog. He sits there, watching his popsicle melt right there, wondering again and again in his mind "Why?", not even noticing the MilkCan band members, Lammy (with her guitar slung over her shoulder), Katy Kat and Ma-san, enter the parlor, each of them holding their tummies hungrily.  
  
"Man," Lammy groans, desperate to eat something, anything. "Chocolate sundae, must have chocolate sundae... I'm famished!"  
  
"Yeah," Katy responds in a similar manner as her stomach growls, and quite loudly at that. "I could _sure_ go for some strawberry milkshake right about now."  
  
"I'd like a vanilla sundae with lots 'n' lots of sprinkles!?" Little Ma-san mumbles in her weird language that only her two girl friends understand.  
  
The gang orders their things and sits at a table of their choosing. As they satisfy their hunger, the smallest MilkCan member notices a sulking, pitiful-looking puppy dog sitting at a table across from her and her friends. Cocking her haircomb-like eyebrows in curiousity, she nudges to the girls and points over to him.  
  
"What's his problem?"  
  
"He seems to be pretty sad about something," Katy observes as she rubs her chin, watching Parappa sigh sadly to himself.  
  
"Maybe someone parked in front of his favorite fire hydrant," Lammy giggles, almost wanting to smack herself for her joke.  
  
"I guess a puppy like him _would_ be depressed about that."  
  
"No, girls," the blue cat waves her paw, "I think it's something else. ... Should we go talk to him?"  
  
Lammy nods. "I guess it would be polite..."  
  
So MilkCan walks over to Parappa's table, bringing their desserts with them, and sits close to the depressed dog. He finally becomes aware of their presence, though he refuses to meet eyes with the girls.  
  
"Yo," says the little MilkCan member, "what the heck is the matter?" Parappa doesn't say anything; mostly because he did not understand what Ma-san just said.  
  
Katy Kat is happy to translate for him: "She asks what is the matter, Parappa. You look really down. What's wrong?" She gently places her paw on Parappa's shoulder, smiling reassuringly. "You can talk to us about it."  
  
After a long and chilly pause he finally lifts his head up and eyes the girls sadly. "Sunny and I broke up," he sighs. The girls' eyes almost widen, surprised at the news. Parappa and Sunny seemed like they would always stay together; MilkCan has seen that in them many, many times. But now that they're hearing of a break up between those two... it's almost impossible to imagine!  
  
"Really? That's awful. I'm sorry." Katy sighs sympathetically.  
  
Ma-san, however, doesn't share the same, sympathetic passion as Katy Kat has. Instead, she uses this time to insert her infamous jokes. "Let me guess...," she smirks. "You refused to 'go to bed' with her, didn't you?" Nearly busting out laughing, she takes a bit of a chunk out of her sprinkle sundae, grinning like a clown.  
  
Of course, Katy Kat isn't in the mood for the small girl's clowning around. "_Ma-san_!" she shouts sternly to her.  
  
"Why did she break up with you, Parappa?" Lammy asks, both from curiosity and from hoping to prevent a meaningless argument between her two friends. Parappa slowly explains to them the reason for Sunny Funny dumping the poor boy, leaving out the embarrassing info of dogs. When finished, he goes back to sulk mode, laying his canine head on the table, his ears drooping like wet towels.  
  
"... I see." Katy sighs sadly, again.  
  
"I'm sure she'll come around soon, Parappa," Lammy says, trying to take Katy's role of being the optimistic one for once. But Parappa shrugs with an 'I doubt it' response. Katy, shaking her head, pats on Parappa's shoulder comfortably, smiling her sweet, caring smile.  
  
Suddenly, Ma-san smirks as an idea, or rather a semi-joke, comes to her head. "Well, you can always go out with Miss Tardy over there." She points over to the guitarist.  
  
Seeing Parappa's ears perk up with an expression of curiousity and 'What she say?', Katy Kat translates for Ma-san again, pointing at Lammy at the same time: "You can always go out with Miss Tardy over there." It takes seconds before Katy realizes her slip, covering her mouth and grinning sheepishly. "Oops. Sorry Lammy."  
  
Lammy smirks at Ma-san's idea/joke, though if one looks closely they could see slight blush on her cheeks. "Come on girls, like me and Parappa would _ever_ go out."  
  
"Heh heh, yeah..." Parappa agrees, trying not to laugh himself. "Kinda funny, isn't it?"  
  
Katy smiles, happy to see Parappa's frown turned upside down for the first time this entire conversation. "Well, I'm sure Ma-san was just trying to make you feel better."  
  
Lammy, wanting this subject to drop quickly, wavers both of her paws, rolling her eyes. "WellANYWAY, is there anything we can do to cheer you up?"  
  
"Weeelllll....." Parappa wrinkles his nose, adjusting his trademark floppy hat shyly. "I was... kinda thinking of being the... guest singer in your... next gig."  
  
Ma-san opens her mouth in shock, shaking her head. "... You gotta be kiddin' me, puppy."  
  
"Yeah," Katy agrees, "MilkCan is a girl band, in case you didn't know."  
  
"Yeah, but..." Parappa begins, but Lammy interrupts: "Parappa, it would never work. We're MilkCan; you have your own band with PJ, remember?"  
  
He most certainly does remember. Unfortunately. He and PJ were inspired by MilkCan's first big success as a band and wanted to form a group of their own. However, their efforts failed miserably and they then decided to trash the idea, at least for now.  
  
He smirks to the lamb, his sentences dripping with the acid of sarcasm. "Yeah. We even destroyed an expensive, beautiful guitar so we can get a quality-sound, super duper maracah out of it. We'd be big successes and everyone would love us."  
  
Lammy ignores his tone of voice, continuing to offer her advice. "You do what you do... whatever it is that rappers and DJ's do."  
  
"Right, Parappa." Katy nods with a confident smile. "If rock is your weak point, stick to your strong one."  
  
The young dog pauses and rubs his chin, considering his friends' bits of wisdom. Then, as suddenly as how the conversation became quiet, he slams his fist into the palm of his other paw in excitement, almost jumping out of his chair. "You're right! Why haven't I thought of it before?"  
  
"Probably because he's the youngest and the stupidest," Ma-san jokingly whispers to Katy, who glares directly at her in response.  
  
"Why did we try rock-and-roll when we know we kick butt better in rapping and DJ'ing? ... Man, now I feel so much better now. Thanks, Lam, you're the best!"  
  
Then the next thing that happens surprises everyone, especially Parappa. He doesn't know how, he doesn't know why, he just goes up and do it...  
  
He kisses Lammy right there on the cheek. Out of the clear blue. Just like that. Feeling shocked and then embarrassed, he backs off and shakes his head quickly, his cheeks glowing shades of pink. Sweating, he stutters, "Um, uh, I, er, gotta go, bye...," and then takes off like a jet, out of the ice cream parlor.  
  
Naturally, Lammy is just as surprised as the dog boy was, as she places her little paw on the part on her cheek where she received the sudden kiss at. She shakes her head as if trying to tell any oncoming confused emotions to not invade her mind.  
  
And just as naturally, Katy and Ma-san can not help but seize this opportunity to torture their friend with grins and teasing "Ooooo"s, wolf-whistling and mock puckering of the lips.  
  
"Wooo! He planted a big one on you!" Katy nudges Lammy's side.  
  
"Didn't I tell you?" smirks Ma-san.  
  
"Eh... it was just an 'in the moment' kind of thing," Lammy says lamely, trying to conceal her cheeks which are now beginning to radiate in redness.  
  
"Riiiight. Suuuurrrrre it was."  
  
"It was!"  
  
Katy giggles, wavering her paws around to cease the teasing. "Anyway, I wonder where Parappa ran off to?"  
  
"Probably went to buy romantic presents for the lamb girl."  
  
"Come on, stop it Ma-san!" Lammy frowns a bit, beginning to get annoyed with the small one's constant teasing and smart-alecky remarks. "He probably went to make up with Sunny."  
  
"Maybe..." Katy says as she rubs her chin.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Meanwhile, a pondering Parappa is to the direction of the quiet suburban areas. Thoughts about his former girlfriend swarm his mind, and he hopes that this more important subject would distract him from that 'magical moment' that occured a few minutes ago. "Maybe I should not try making up with Sunny," he mumbles to himself. "Not now.... She seemed really, really serious when she announced our break up. Yeah, maybe it's best I worry about her later. Right now, I gotta find PJ. Now where is he..."  
  
Why, sleeping on the living room couch in the comfort of his own home, of course. The short, peaceful PJ Berri snores blissfully, a little "anime bubble" forming from his nose. Parappa arrives at his home and knocks once on the door. "Peej? PJ, are you home?"  
  
"Do not disturb," mumbles PJ in his sleep.  
  
Parappa, scratching his head, goes over to peek inside the window. His dog eyes tell him his friend is in dreamland mode. Sighing, he taps on the glass loudly, hoping it would wake him up.  
  
And it does. But of course, PJ isn't too happy to be woken up from the world of slumber. "What is it!?"  
  
"C'mon, Peej," Parappa calls behind the window, "we're reformin' our band!"  
  
"Band? When were we a band?"  
  
"When we tried rock-'n'-roll... You don't remember, huh?"  
  
"Oh... yeah, I remember." Then he blinks once, "Why are we reforming?"  
  
"Because Lammy... I mean Milk Can gave me some advice. Why not we just have a rapping/DJ band instead?"  
  
PJ simply shrugs. "Okay."  
  
"Great! ... um, aren'tcha gonna let me in?"  
  
PJ shrugs emotionlessly and opens the door for him. Parappa steps in excitedly.  
  
"Whew, thanks," says Parappa. "For a minute there I thought you were gonna just fall asleep again."  
  
"Wanna get something to eat?" the bear asks suddenly.  
  
"Ummm, I just a--" Parappa begins, but remembers he lost most of his ice cream from before, "yeah, I guess."  
  
"Alright, where should we go?"  
  
"I dunno. How 'bout Beard Burger? I heard the Nickel Grounder is ninety-nine cents now."  
  
"Sweet!"  
  
Deciding on their destination, the two best buds head on their way to Beard Burger. Of course, they have nothing else to converse about, so they just walk, sighing boredly; PJ looks to be about ready to fall asleep _again_. Then, finally, Parappa sighs and tells his friend the same news he told Milk Can. "Oh, PJ, I've got some bad news to tell you. Sunny and I broke up."  
  
"... Awwww..." PJ says quite unsincerely.  
  
"Yeah," says Parappa, not detecting PJ's disinterest, "so no more dating for us. Now I'm girlfriendless... again."  
  
"Well, you know what they say..." shrugs PJ. "... Girls suck."  
  
Parappa wrinkles his nose curiously. "Huh, well, I don't think so."  
  
The duo finally reach their destination and get in line.  
  
"Girls can be great if you just give them a chance," Parappa continues, hoping to break through PJ's emotional barrier.  
  
"They just seem to suck all your money dry," shrugs PJ.  
  
"That's because most guys suck up to them so much by buying them millions of presents instead of being them... selves..." his voice fades as he realizes just how weird that is coming out of him. "Gosh, I'm being hypocritical here," he says with a scratch of his head, prompting a smirk from his buddy.  
  
The dog and bear reach the end of the line and order the now 99-cent Nickel Grounder. After paying for it a minute or so later, they sit at a table next to one of the windows with their food. PJ almost immediately begins devouring his like a scavenger.  
  
"Maybe next time," Parappa sighs, "I oughta buy presents only when I actually need to--like their birthday or something--and be more like myself. Maybe then the next girl won't dump me." He lets out another sigh and chews on his Nickel Grounder slowly.  
  
"Well, just forget about it, Parappa. You're better off in the long run, believe me."  
  
Parappa sighs _again_ and chews as he thinks, 'Forget about it. Right. If only he knew I was happy _having_ a girlfriend than not having one at all. It sucks being lonely.'  
  
"Besides," PJ continues as he takes a big bite of his burger, "look at all the running around you did for her. And what thanks do you get? This crap."  
  
"Well, that was before we found out 'inter-lifeform' stuff wouldn't work. And besides... thanks to 'all that running around', I got better in rapping," Parappa says this with a smile.  
  
"Yeah, well, she's still ungrateful," PJ says with still no emotion.  
  
"Well, it's not her fault, really. She didn't know." He pauses. "... at least, I don't think she did."  
  
"Bah, stop making excuses for her. Get mad or something."  
  
Parappa chews slowly again. "I don't get mad easily."  
  
"Well, maybe you should. With everything you do for people around here, you should have a flock of girls surrounding you... Not that you'd want that, because girls suck." The bear takes yet another bite of his burger, not caring about the fact that some types of people he's insulting right now are sitting at a table across from him.  
  
"Hm. Strange you keep saying that," muses Parappa. "I thought you like Katy or something? Or was I dreaming it?"  
  
PJ looks at his friend strangely. "Why would I like Katy? Sure she looks nice, but yuck, no thanks."  
  
"'Kay. I guess it _was_ just some crazy dream." After moments of silence (besides the sounds of biting and chewing), he finally decides to change the subject, "So, what should we call our band?"  
  
"PJ and the Rapper?" says PJ with a shrug.  
  
"Oh yeah, no ego showing in you there," smirks Parappa.  
  
"You asked."  
  
"How's about the All-Star Rapstars?" His response: crickets chirping in the background. Parappa sweatdrops, "... well, it was a nice try."  
  
"How about just PJ and Parappa?"  
  
"No, Parappa and PJ. It's, uh, alphabetically in order," Parappa says, trying to hide a smirk.  
  
"Sure it is."  
  
"Okay, then. Hmm. How's about we flip a coin for it?"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Heads or Tails?"  
  
"Heads."  
  
"Gotcha."  
  
Parappa digs out a penny and he flicks in into the air. But it slips out of the table and falls on the floor, making Parappa and PJ bend down (and look weird while doing so) under the table.  
  
"What's it say," Parappa whispers, trying to see the coin.  
  
"I think it's on its side," is PJ's response.  
  
"Standin' on its side? Great..." Parappa suddenly tries to blow the coin flat on the ground so his Tails would win.  
  
"Hey!" PJ shouts as he kicks the penny, sending it flying again. It lands on its side and rolls away from them. Parappa crawls after it while PJ follows him, trying to knock the coin over Heads up. Bystanders can't help but giggle at the sight as they continue this antic for a while, trying to knock the coin to their winning side, until finally, Colonel Noodle, the son of the late Beard Burger Master, comes into the scene, wondering why all of his customers are giggling, snickering, or shaking their heads.  
  
"The heck is with you two?" he demands. "Are you in love or something? Cut it out."  
  
Then, out of frustration, he stomps on the coin between them flat on the ground and walks away in a huff. And unfortunately for Parappa, it's on Heads...  
  
"No..." he groans in defeat.  
  
But PJ is experiencing the opposite emotion. "Hah!"  
  
"All right, all right, you win," Parappa sighs as he takes his penny back. "So PJ and Parappa it is."  
  
"Thank you," grins his friend.  
  
"So... what should we do now?"  
  
"Rehearse?" shrugs PJ. "It's what MilkCan always does."  
  
"Okay. Let's go to the studio, then."  
  
"We don't have a studio..."  
  
"Oh yeah. I forgot." Parappa slaps his forehead, "And we don't even have money to own one." Then suddenly, he smiles a bit. "Well, no need to worry about it right now. Not like everyone knows about 'PJ and Parappa,' so we don't have any deadlines where we have to perform or anything."  
  
"Yeah, yeah..." PJ agrees with a shrug.  
  
Parappa stuffs his paws into his big pockets. "So, I guess I'll be seein' ya, Peej. I'm gonna try one more time to make-up with Sunny Funny. Maybe she's changed her mind?"  
  
"Sure," smirks PJ.  
  
* * * * *  
  
So the two say their goodbyes, and Parappa runs out of the restaurant in a hurry. Nervous thoughts run all over his mind as he begins to sweat from more than just the running. 'Has Sunny changed her mind?,' he wonders. 'What if she has? Could that mean her dad was wrong about the inter-lifeform thing, or that he doesn't care anymore? What if she _hasn't_ changed her mind? Would she get mad at me for asking again? What if I'm lonely forever? I mean, sure, I have PJ, but most of the time he does nothing but eat and sleep. I need... someone else. I need... OOOFF!!'  
  
Parappa had crashed right into the door of Sunny Funny's lemon-shaped home (no, really, it _does_ look like a lemon!), interrupting his panicky thoughts. 'Oh,' Parappa thinks again with a sweatdrop. 'I'm here.'  
  
Sunny Funny, at the moment, is sitting in the living room, looking boredly at the television show before her. It is one of them afternoon soap operas. And even though most soap opera shows bore her, there is nothing else to watch; no cartoons, no live-action comedies, nothing. Soooo...  
  
"What do you mean, we cannot date?" shouts the voice of a male character in desperation. "Just because you're an animal and I'm a human?"  
  
"You heard me," replies a female character in a stern tone. "Now get out!"  
  
The guy yells some profanities as he storms away, crying like a wuss. Sunny rolls her eyes and switches off the TV immediately. "Stupid people don't get that we're not in the same genus," she says to herself, annoyed.  
  
As she is about to lie down for a quick nap, repeated knocks on the front door sound through the living room.  
  
"Uhhh... Sunny, you there?" calls a familiar voice.  
  
"What is it?" Sunny replies as she walks to the door.  
  
"Um, I wanted to talk to you..." 'Oh great,' Parappa suddenly thinks to himself, 'now I'm starting to chicken out. Steady, knees, steady...'

"Yes?" Sunny politely asks as she opens the door.  
  
"Okay," Parappa says, trying to calm down. "I will not reduce myself to begging. I will behave like a real dog instead of a little puppy." Then, adjusting his hat and clearing his throat, he speaks in a fake sophisticated voice, "A-A-Ahem. Ms. Sunny Funny, were you just messing with my head and kidding around when you said that we cannot date anymore?"  
  
"No," Sunny says simply.  
  
Hearing that, Parappa breaks down, collapsing on the ground and hugging Sunny's knees while whining, "Oh, NO! No, no, no, no! This cannot be ha-pen-niiiiiing!" He whimpers as he sucks his thumb while hanging on to his former girlfriend's leg with the other arm.  
  
She sighs with a shake of her head. "Parappa, I thought I explained this..."  
  
"I know, I know..." says her former boyfriend, stopping sucking on his thumb for one moment as he wrinkles his nose. "I was just hoping it was a bad dream or something."  
  
"Well, it wasn't."  
  
"Oh, kibbles 'n bits..." whines Parappa, his ears drooping, hugging Sunny's knee tighter.  
  
"Parappa, come on..."  
  
Long moments pass before he finally sits up, dusting himself off, "Okay, sorry about that. It's just... you know, it's hard for me to accept."  
  
"Well, you're going to have to; flowers and animals just can't be together."  
  
"I see. I understand. Well, it was nice while it lasted," he says as he holds unto Sunny's hand.  
  
"Yeah it was," she replies, smiling.  
  
Parappa smiles as well, but shrugs, "Oh well. Doesn't mean we can't be friends, right? I mean, we can still talk to each other and stuff like that, can't we?"  
  
"Well, of course."  
  
"Then, I guess that's okay." He sighs sadly but still smiles, "So see ya around, then. And sorry for buggin' ya."  
  
"Don't worry about it, it's okay."  
  
"Whew. So, catch ya later, pretty flower!" Parappa smiles, backing out and waving goodbye to her.  
  
"Bye, puppy," smiles Sunny as well.  
  
And so, after taking one last look at the flower girl as a 'girlfriend', Parappa stuffs his paws into his pockets and walks down the sidewalk, sulking, his mouth wrinkling up like paper.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Somewhere out there, though, a mysterious figure is also feeling misery in its heart. Rather, it itself is thinking it's misery. And it's not the same type of misery our rapping hero is experiencing. Nay. This is a misery of feeling... left out. Upstaged. Cast into the shadows so that the other person, the cause of its misery, is shone in the light. The being is planning on a plan to strike back against the cause of its misery, its pain, its suffering... A plan so evil that it (the plan) even scares itself... a tinee bit. This being, feared by its people, grins an evil grin as it laughs whole-heartedly, having this feeling inside itself that soon... soon... its revenge will be complete at last....  
  
* * * * *  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2

"Revenge is Bittersweet," Chapter Two

by DragonShadow83 and VTBOTS

--------------------

Parappa sulks down the sidewalk under the sunset suburban neighborhood of the craziest town in the world. He stuffs his paws into his pockets, remembering all the happy and troubling times he and Sunny Funny spent as boyfriend and girlfriend... before they officially broke up for good just a few minutes ago. Such news is devastating on the poor, lonely puppy. At least, he feels lonely. Sure there's PJ, but... well, you know PJ. Katy Kat is nice but she appeals to him more like a big sister that likes to tease her little brother, even though they're pretty much the same age. Ma-san... well, unsure about her; they don't even speak the same language, so he could never tell what she's saying to him, though he knows it's mostly smart-alecky comments. And then there's Lammy...

Lammy... what about her? She's really shy, but she's an awesome guitar player. Generally an all-around nice girl... easy to get along with... very cute and pretty...  
  
'Cute and pretty?' Parappa suddenly gasps to himself, 'Did I just think that?' He shakes his head quickly, as if to shake that little last opinion of Lammy out of his head, but to no avail-- it sticks there. Somehow he can't help but picture that cute little lamb face that he only met a couple of months ago. He grits his teeth at the frustration of the illustration sealed into his brain. Of course, such concentration can distract one from his surroundings. Which is what happens next, as he accidently slams into the last person he would want to see right now....  
  
"Hey, watch it!" Lammy shouts out.  
  
Parappa apologizes to her in a low voice after shaking himself off. He finds it hard to take his eyes off of her all of a sudden.  
  
"What's wrong with you today?" Lammy smirks as Parappa helps her off the ground.  
  
"Everything," he replies with a sigh.  
  
"Like what?" Lammy asks. Parappa explains to her how he lost his little name game with PJ ('Which isn't too bad', he says), then tells her how he tried to 'make-up' with Sunny but discovers the break-up _is_ official ('Which was VERY bad', he says). "I see," Lammy responds with a nod. "Well... um... there are plenty of fish in the sea."  
  
"Really?" the puppy asks, looking to the redheaded girl curiously.  
  
"Well, yeah... So buck up, buddy."  
  
"Sure... buddy," Parappa says, smiling a bit.  
  
They stand there, not saying anything, under the beautiful sunset, which is beginning to fade into the nocturnal, their paws stuffed into their pockets. Lammy smiles back at Parappa nervously, unsure of whether she's nervous about the silence or whether she's nervous about his presence. She starts to play with her hair in slight frustration over having nothing else to talk about, when Parappa suddenly speaks up, "Do you want me to walk you home?"  
  
Lammy merely responds by turning her head to two other people present, with eyes that say "Should I?" Parappa looks over and discovers that he's been so distracted with this pre-- friendly girl that he didn't even notice Katy and Ma-san behind her. He blushes a bit when he hears them holding back snickers.  
  
"Yeah, go on ahead," Katy says in response to Lammy's question. Then, aside to Lammy but audible to Ma-san, she whispers, "Besides, the poor little guy could use some cheering up."  
  
"An invite to bed would _definently_ perk his spirits up!" Ma-san grins before being punished with Katy's foot on hers. "Ow!"  
  
Lammy replies to Parappa, "Well, sure."  
  
"Great!"  
  
"Remember to wear protection when you get there, dogboy!" you-know-who smirks.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Forget about it, Parappa," says Katy with a sigh as she drags Ma-san away. "I'll just go home and wash this little girl's mouth with soap. See ya!"  
  
"H... hey! Lemme go! C'mon, I was just kidding around, sheesh!" whines the little... whatever she is. Parappa just scratches his head in confusion.  
  
"Let's just go," sighs the redheaded lamb. She tells Parappa where she lives, and he gentlemanly takes her paw to lead her there, walking together under the setting sun, which very slowly fades into the evening night. For some reason Lammy has a bit of a smirk on her face. Parappa doesn't notice, however, as he is trying to solve the puzzle of these strange feelings developing inside him, which seem to rise in intensity a bit when he touches her soft paw. As he fits bits and pieces together, he begins to wonder... if he's... if he's....  
  
"...said we're here."  
  
Parappa nearly jumps up and looks quickly around him to find himself in front of the apartment complex. He bonks himself on the head, frustrated at his recent distractions as of late.  
  
"Sorry. I was thinking about something."  
  
"Really? Like what?"  
  
"Well... I'm not really sure _what_ I'm thinking yet, to tell you the truth."  
  
"I see. Well, thanks for walking me home."  
  
"You're welcome, Lam." He watches her as she turns to go inside, not seeing the little smile forming on her face. But then a thought occurs in his mind. "W-Wait!"  
  
Lammy stops. "Hm?"  
  
"U-Ummm... M-Maybe we oughta s-spend more time together..."  
  
"... Like?"  
  
"Like, I don't know, get to know each other better. We don't meet that often, and when we do it's often because one or both of us are in some crisis or something."  
  
"That's true, I guess. Well, we only met each other through Katy... So... when do you want to?  
  
"I dunno. Maybe tomorrow, perhaps? It's late."  
  
"Yeah, maybe. Well... goodnight," Lammy says before going inside quickly, shutting the door. 'Was he hitting on me?' she asks herself as she flops on the couch. 'What on earth is going on? This is getting weird.'  
  
Parappa thinks to himself in equal confusion. 'What's with me today? Ever since I ran into Lammy, I keep... feeling something. Is it because I... no way! A shy, nervous rock 'n' roll lamb girl and a talkative, dorky rapdog that thinks too much... together? That could _never_ happen. ...could it?'  
  
* * * * *  
  
In a dark theater in a secluded island from far, far away, the sinister being of darkness is thinking its evil thoughts as it marches through the hallways, holding a hi-tech microphone in its hands, until it stops outside a dressing room playing music. The song, familiar to it, boils a hidden rage and... jealously inside it, and it pokes its head in.  
  
A pitbull guy in the dressing is staring into his little television, just pressing play again after rewinding the video tape. The sounds of the door opening causes his ears to rise and he looks over to that one person behind it...  
  
"Oh hello, Miss! Get a look at this," he says as he shows her a video of MilkCan's first gig. The crowd goes wild as Lammy jams her guitar, Ma-san goes beserk on the drums and Katy Kat sings her groovy singing voice for their first song ever to hit the public. "Someone was nice enough to tape this. It sounds really great, doesn't it?"  
  
"It sounds like a cat with lyringitis," she replies in disgust.  
  
"Well, I still think it sounds good," he says, shrugging and continuing watching. Big mistake. The feminine evil frowns and throws her microphone at the TV and it immediately bursts into flames. "Hey!" the dog protests, but the she-darkness' glare of absolute death incarnate tells him to back down or else. "(gulp) I mean HEY, great job destroying the television! What an absolute display of your mighty power!"  
  
She simply snorts and slams the door shut, not hearing the 'bitch' remark from the TV's owner... And that's a good thing. She stomps back to her room in a furious huff and flops unto her chair, her facial expression twisting into many mixes of negative emotions. "I know that girl," she says to herself in a low, dark voice, "she thinks she can upstage _me_ with my own crew? I'll show her..."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Okay, girls, it's time for another gig," says Katy to her MilkCan partners the next day.  
  
"Already?" asks Ma-san.  
  
"Well, yeah. Our first was such a big success, I thought we'd hold another one!"  
  
"Uh-huh," mumbles Lammy as she peeks out the window, looking distressed.  
  
"What's up, Lammy?" asks Ma-san curiously after noticing how strange the taller girl is acting. "You look as if you're expecting something. Or someone."  
  
"If you think Chop-Chop Master Onion will pop up out of nowhere and keep quoting something to you, forget it," says Katy. "He's doing a new TV show now, and I don't think he'd have time to do stuff like that anymore."  
  
"No, it's Parappa," Lammy replies with a sigh. "I think he's stalking me."  
  
"Stalking you?"  
  
"Yeah, I swear I caught him following me here this morning."  
  
"Maybe it's because he likes you a lot," smiles Katy Kat.  
  
"Well, it's kind of creeping me out."  
  
"Well, he is a bit of a lonely kind of guy," says Ma-san seriously. "Sunny was the only other person he spent a lot of time with other than PJ, but PJ... well, you know how he is."  
  
"So, there are other people out there, why me?"  
  
"Well, you two do have a lot in common," says Katy with a "Mmm-hmm, I'm right as always" nod.  
  
"Like?"  
  
"You're both shy..."  
  
"You both ran into trouble and had to do stuff for a lot of grown-ups..." adds Ma-san.  
  
"You're both _animals_."  
  
"You're both great in some form of music."  
  
"You have a more defined personality, hee hee hee."  
  
"You both are wussies sometimes."  
  
"Yeah, and... _Ma-san!!"  
  
_Ma-san smirks. "Like you saying that Sunny has hardly any personality isn't bad. Besides, we had to put in a joke in the 'what you have in common' list eventually, it's kinda an unwritten rule."  
  
"Well, I'm not interested..." sighs Lammy with, well, disinterest.  
  
"Come on... I'm sure dogboy is very good at things other than rapping... if you know what I'm trying to say..." the little 'whatever' winks.  
  
"Ma-san," Katy frowns, "must you always be so suggestive?"  
  
"Yep," smiles Ma-san shamelessly.  
  
"Well, maybe, but YEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!!" Lammy suddenly screams and jumps back when she sees Parappa's face plastered in the window.  
  
"Whoa," is all the blue cat could get out of her mouth.  
  
"Gosh, he must really dig ya, Lammy," says Ma-san, using her drumsticks to scratch behind her head.  
  
"Hi Lam," says Parappa innocently. "I was just wonderin' if you, you know, want to go to the movies with me or something." 'No, no, that's too advanced, start with the beginner stuff!' Parappa shouts in his mind, then speaks out loud again, "Make that a walk."  
  
"Um... maybe tomorrow... We have to rehearse for our next gig."  
  
"Oh... Okay. Well, see ya later Lam," he bows and leaves with his paws in his pockets.  
  
"At least he left," shrugs Katy. "It coulda been freakier if he just stayed there like an idi-- uh, I mean like a really, really hyped-up fan."  
  
"No, you were right the first time, he stood there like an idiot," says Ms. Smartymouth.  
  
"I don't know what to do," whines Lammy in worriedness, "is there a way to let him down without, you know, provoking a homicidal rage?"  
  
"Parappa doesn't seem like the kind of person who would go _that_ crazy, even if he is dumped..." Katy says.  
  
"Maybe... Well, he's probably just getting over Sunny Funny by going after me... yeah, that's it..."  
  
"Yeah, that could be it," smiles her cat friend optimistically. "Maybe he hopes he'll stop being depressed about Sunny by hanging out with you more."  
  
"Still," Ma-san speaks up, "you ought to ask him to calm down with the following you thing, before he really starts invading your... personal space, if you get what I mean."  
  
"For once, Ma-san is right."  
  
"Yeah...," Ma-san smiles before suddenly frowning and whirling to the cat, "What do you mean 'for once'?"  
  
"My personal space?"  
  
"Well, how would we know that next time he takes you home he won't try to go in, without asking?"  
  
The lamb shakes her head in disbelief. "Parappa wouldn't do that... would he?"  
  
"No way," Katy says, playing optimism again but glaring at Ma-san, "Ma-san is just being naughty again, aren't you Ma-san?"  
  
"Only trying to help..."  
  
Lammy simply rubs under her chin curiously, 'Hmmm'ing and pasting around.  
  
"Anyway," says Katy after an unsettling silence, "we need to start rehearsing again if we want our next gig to be big as well,"  
  
"Yeah, that's right," nods Lammy, more than happy that the subject finally changed.  
  
The little whatever cracks her knuckles as she readies her drumsticks. "Time to go again, my babies!" she says to them in baby talk before pounding on her drums like a madgirl.  
  
So MilkCan does as Katy said, though Lammy, despite playing her precious instrument, can't help but still feel distracted. She looks out the window as she thinks about her recent 'stalker,' wondering where he would strike next... and when.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Well, Lammy has no need to worry about him right now at the moment, for Parappa is much too busy worrying about his behavior as of late, especially from earlier. "I wonder if it's okay with me bugging Lammy like that?" he whispers to himself. "She didn't exactly seem happy to see me. But I can't help it... I don't get what's wrong with me. Hmmmm. What should I do...?"  
  
He stops his thinking however as he spots PJ Berri laying in the street randomly, asleep. He shakes his head. "Geez, Peej would sleep anywhere, not even caring if a car or skateboard, whatever, comes at him... Yo! Peej, wake up before something bad happens to ya!"  
  
The live teddy bear slowly awakens, rubbing the sleep dust from his eyes. "Wha... what?" he yawns.  
  
"You're sleeping in the middle of the street."  
  
"Oh... why am I here?"  
  
"I was just about to ask you that."  
  
"Sleepwalking, I guess..."  
  
"Well, you better be careful next time," lectures Parappa as he brings his best friend out of the street, "you could've gotten hurt."  
  
"Well, don't blame ME."  
  
"Chill. I got a headache."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever... So what's your problem?"  
  
"I don't know why but I keep following Lammy around," says Parappa worriedly as he pastes around. "And I'm afraid it's scaring her."  
  
PJ simply shrugs, "So stop."  
  
"That's what I'm thinking of doing. I don't want to scare off _two_ girls...!"  
  
"Well, good then," says PJ with a doubting smile.  
  
"Here's hoping I won't run into her again. I might start acting like a jackass again."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't worry TOO much about it."  
  
"What makes you say that?"  
  
"Because who cares what they think?"  
  
Parappa wrinkles his nose a little, "...well..."  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"Well," Parappa stuffs his paws into his pockets with droopy ears, "I don't want them to be scared of me... or dislike me."  
  
"Who cares?"  
  
"I do."  
  
"Well, I don't," says the bear unsincerely.  
  
"I'm not saying you do. I just... wanted to talk to someone since I don't have anyone else."  
  
"Well, why do you need anyone else to talk to?"  
  
"Because if I talk to myself I'd look weird?" Parappa almost laughs.  
  
"Just talk to me."  
  
"Mmmkay, buddy," says the puppy, shrugging and scratching his head over this weird conversation. "... what were we talking about again?"  
  
"Stupid girls."  
  
Parappa blinks. "Oh... yeah." Then after a pause, his curiousity gets the best of him and he asks, "Why do you hate girls so much, anyway? Did something... happen to make you feel that way?"  
  
"They're just greedy little... whatevers."  
  
Parappa shakes his head doubtedly, "Something tells me it could be more than that. But," he shrugs, "I won't get into it right now. ... so what should we do? Rehearse? Go home and do whatever? Hope and hope some more that we don't run into Lam-- uh, MilkCan?"  
  
PJ catches his mistake, however, and he looks over him, smirking. "I put up with Sunny for so long and now you're going to fall for someone else?"  
  
"I, I, I'm _not_ in love with Lammy...." says Parappa in a low voice, blushing feverishly.  
  
"Suuure you're not," PJ grins. Then, seeing his friend blush even further, he adds, "Admit it."  
  
"I... I'm not..." Parappa turns his head away, his face becoming a hot tomato, "Whew, it's getting hotter out here, and it isn't even summer yet... Weird, huh?"  
  
"Uh-huh," says the bear sarcastically as he just walks straight ahead.  
  
"I'm not in love with Lammy... am I?" mutters Parappa as he follows him.  
  
"Duh," PJ says as he looks over at him. "Don't think out loud."  
  
"Doh!" grumbles Parappa to himself as PJ laughs at him.  
  
'Maybe... mabye PJ is right,' Parappa thinks, taking PJ's advice in keeping his thoughts to himself. 'Maybe I _am_ having a crush on Lammy. But _how_? I just _had_ a crush on Sunny Funny, how could I have another one so quickly?'  
  
"So, what now?" his bear friend suddenly asks, breaking his train of thoughts.  
  
"Well, we need our own studio if we are to be a rap band. If we practiced at our homes people would complain about noise pollution."  
  
"Well, where can we find a studio?"  
  
"I dunno. Maybe an abandoned one will conveniently come out of nowhere in typical cartoon fashion and it'd be ours for the taking?"  
  
"... Nope," says PJ, after looking around blankly.  
  
"Rats, I thought it would work. Hey, I know," shouts Parappa with a snap of a finger, "how about we and MilkCan take turns using their studio? ...wait, that won't work, huh?" he then says, his ears drooping in discouragement.  
  
PJ just rolls his eyes. "Can you go five sentences without saying Lammy or MilkCan?"  
  
"Sure. Okay. PJ, I'll do that. I'll do that thing you just said. So I'll go five sentences without saying that," smirks Parappa, every sentence dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"Thank you," PJ smirks back. "So... where are we by now?"  
  
"Hmm, looks like we're by..." Parappa looks around and... is overjoyed--and yet at the same time, dismayed--to see Lammy's apartment complex right in front of them. He sweatdrops and nearly facefaults. "Uh, some big building. How did we get here, anyway...?"  
  
"I wonder," PJ replies with a smirk, staring at him.  
  
"Okaaaaay," says the dog, wanting to leave the topic quickly, "I think we have nothing better to do. Maybe we'll have better with Para-- I mean PJ & Parappa tomorrow. Maybe we oughta just go home and retire for the day."  
  
"Sounds good to me... I was home the last time I checked."  
  
"Maybe next time you could strap yourself in case you sleepwalk again?" suggests Parappa with a smile.  
  
"Maybe," smirks PJ again. "See ya later. And don't let the bed lambs bite."  
  
"Ha ha, very funny..." mutters Parappa with a frown as he watches his pal leave. He looks back up at the complex then shakes his head. He quickly turns around and starts to head for his own home, hoping that Lammy would come from a different direction than he would.  
  
But alas, it is not to be, for he slams into the brown-furred girl just as he walks away. "Ah!" she screams as she falls on her behind.  
  
Parappa isn't too happy to see the person he's bumped into and he grabs his head in frustation. "NO!"  
  
Lammy shakes the cobwebs from the dizzying blow and she finally notices the obstacle... and now is equally as unhappy as Parappa. "Oh... hey."  
  
"Hey..." he sighs as he helps Lammy up for the second time in two days.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
Parappa tries his hardest not to look into Lammy's entrancing eyes... "PJ and I were just walking along blabbering about our band and we just ended up around here. Don't ask how."  
  
"Oh, okay. Well, it's getting late, so... goodnight," she says in a _real_ hurry as she quickly heads up to her place. "Creepy, creepy..." she whispers to herself with near fright.  
  
'Oh darn,' thinks Parappa, 'I gotta apologize to her for stalking her like that earlier...' Then says out loud, "Lammy, wait! Wait, don't run away, I have something to tell you!"  
  
"Oh, no..." she mumbles with a shudder as she stops and looks down the stairs.  
  
"I just wanted to say... sorry... You know, for stalking you earlier today and bumping into you... again."  
  
"Um... no problem," Lammy smiles nervously, wanting to just get out of there now.  
  
'Whew, got that off my chest!' thinks Parappa, walking away. 'Now I can walk away with weight lifted off my shoulders. ...I hope she doesn't move because of me, though...'  
  
'Maybe I should move,' Lammy says to herself as she enters her place. 'This is getting creepy...'  
  
* * * * *  
  
That night, Lammy is sitting on the couch, eating a piece of cheesecake as she watches the television. (Naturally, her parents aren't around at this time, as has been happening to the other kids' folks for some mysterious reason...) On it, some kid is complaining about some girl in his school, in nearly the same distress as Lammy was back at the MilkCan studio.  
  
"Mommmyyyyyyyy, there's a girl that keeps following me around!"  
  
"Well, maybe it's because she really likes you, dear."  
  
"But... it's scaring me," the boy responds in a low voice.  
  
"Well, if you keep being scared of her and do nothing about it she'll continue to do it, because she would think you're enjoying it."  
  
"Well... I'm not! I'm gonna run away!" he shouts, followed by sounds of rapid footsteps, a door opening and closing, and a sigh.  
  
Lammy just smirks at the stupidity of it all, but her smile quickly fades away as an unfortunately familiar voice looms over her. "Gee, that poor kid must be scared out of his wits of that girl."  
  
"Hm?" Lammy eyes widen and her ears perk up in alert.  
  
"Maybe he just needs to confront his fears and just face her like a man, tell her straight out."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Guess."  
  
"I don't know," Lammy shrugs.  
  
"Argh, darnit," grumbles the voice. It whirls Lammy around to see _him_. "Ring any bells?"  
  
Lammy screams in instant fright, flinging the cheesecake into the air and backing off away from Parappa. The dessert is splattered right into Parappa's face, and he sweatdrops in annoyance.  
  
"What are you doing here!? How did you get in!?" demands Lammy.  
  
"What I'm doing is tasting the cheesecake you threw at me," says Parappa with a hint of sarcasm. He licks the remains of the dessert and his eyes light up in delight. "Mmmm, yummy. How I got in, who knows. This is a cartoon, it doesn't have to make sense, really."  
  
"But if it doesn't make sense, this must be a dream!" To test her theory she pinches herself, then pauses. Nothing happens. "Dang, it's not..."  
  
Parappa instantly becomes worried as he stares into the scared look on Lammy's face. "Y'know, you oughta take lessons from that mother. Why don't you just, I don't know, _scare_ me into not following. Heck, I want to stop me myself, but for some reason my body won't let me. It kinda sucks," he says, shrugging.  
  
"Then STOP following me!" shouts Lammy, upset.  
  
Parappa tries to walk away but his body won't let him. He just stands there staring, and gulps.  
  
"GO!" shouts Lammy again, but this time her tone is that of anger. And no, not just any anger, but _ticked off_ anger! Which is quite a rarity for Lammy. In fact, none of her friends can remember the last time she got seriously ticked... if she ever had.  
  
This is more than enough to actually scare Parappa away, as he backs away to the front door, his mouth wrinkling up, feeling his life may be threatened if he doesn't get out of there. "I'm going, I'm going... Geez. Whole neighborhood could hear you."  
  
"Goodnight..." Lammy says calmly. Parappa, unable to answer for fear of saying something that might upset Lammy even more, simply leaves.  
  
Lammy heads to her room to crash in for the night. Climbing into bed, she secretly wonders whether that was enough to set Parappa straight... or whether she was a bit _too_ angry at him that his feelings were hurt...  
  
* * * * *  
  
Meanwhile, at the theater, the she-darkness still is contemplating on her evil plans. But since she cannot come up with one yet, she decides to retire to her room, imagining various ways she can inflict pain and torture on her enemy. "How dare that girl upstages me," she growls to herself in a sinister voice. "I'll have retribution yet for what she did! Yes! I will have my revenge... And she and everyone else will realize the true power and talent of...  
  
...Teriyaki Yoko."  
  
Feeling hungry, she cooks some food in a bowl in her personal microwave, using her mysterious powers to speed up the process to her desire, and brings it with her, sitting on her couch and eating her grub, tasting it with delight. "Mmmm, nothing like teriyaki chicken to boost my powers... bwaha, bwahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!"  
  
Meanwhile, a dark figure is watching from above with a sneer, using her stealthy skills to avoid detection, spying on the green-skinned woman below. This girl, Rammy--who looks almost like Lammy except black-and-white and 'evil', and her shirt is a little animal skull-and-crossbones instead of a smiley flower of some sort--growls as she glares at Teriyaki Yoko, and is even more annoyed at the maniacal laughter from a few seconds ago.  
  
"That ungrateful bitch Teriyaki Yoko..." Rammy whispers to herself. "After everything I've done for her... Just wait till I get to you, you..."  
  
Rammy trails off as Teriyaki Yoko turns on the TV, which shows Lammy on the screen. "Soon little crowd-stealer..." says Yoko with a deep frown. "In just a few days you'll see... or feel... the error of your ways."  
  
"A few days?" says the dark lamb to herself. "So she IS planning to off Lammy, huh. I'd like to know how..., even though I'll probably stop this Yoko weirdo from getting her before I do-- I want to take her down badly, too; she stole my gig months ago, and because of her Yoko tossed me out!" Suddenly, she smirks, "Ironic Yoko is mad when she's the one who had her steal my job in the first place."  
  
Suddenly Teriyaki Yoko looks around, and suddenly bursts out laughing just in case there's anyone to impress, "Bwahahahahahaaaaa!"  
  
Almost immediately the 'cat choir' (from Stage 6, Vital Idol, of "UmJammer Lammy"), who happened to be nearby, shout at Yoko's door, "Very impressive laugh, Ms. Yoko!"  
  
"Shut up!" she orders, feeling quite foolish. They simply walk away, still praising her amongst themselves.  
  
"Suck-uppers..." grumbles Rammy with a shake of her head. "I better stick around a little longer, at least until this lady blabs about how and exactly when she plans to make Lammy 'pay'..."  
  
"... I've revealed enough. Go away," says Teriyaki Yoko to apparently no one.  
  
"Huh?" says Rammy in confusion, wondering if she's been discovered.  
  
But Yoko suddenly faces the 'readers' and shouts "Go away already!"  
  
"She's talking to herself," Rammy says, blinking. "Better stay away for now." She sneaks out of there stealth-like, not even leaving a trace of her presence. Both her and Teriyaki Yoko secretly imagine their enemies' screams of pain, their cries for mercy, their blood splattered over the area...  
  
Both of them snicker insanely to themselves.....  
  
* * * * *  
  
TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3

"Revenge is Bittersweet," Chapter Three

by VTBots and DragonShadow83

--------------------

"Lammy, is there something wrong?" Katy asks the next day at MilkCan's studio.

"Yeah," says Ma-san, "you look like a wreck. Your hair's a mess, your pants is on backwards, your shirt is nearly showing your..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." grumbles Lammy, who looks like all the things Ma-san just said. "I didn't sleep too well last night... I kept scoping my house for that dog."

Ma-san shakes her head. "I told you to do something about him, Lammy. If you keep getting scared and chicken out, he'll probably invade you while you're undressing next."

"After last night I don't doubt it."

"This isn't like Parappa," muses Katy. "He was never like this with Sunny. I wonder why?"

Lammy shrugs. "Maybe he's gone off the deep end."

"Well, how can we keep him from 'going off the deep end' so he'll be himself again?" Ma-san asks.

"I wish I knew..."

"How about bashing his head in with your good ol' guitar?" suggests a grinning Ma-san. Katy opens her mouth to protest but can't for some reason.

"N-N-No, I don't like violence," stutters Lammy, twidling her fingers.

"Well," says Katy, "I would say 'ray for it,' but..." she looks to Lammy, "that's not your forte...." Lammy smirks.

Ma-san frowns a bit. "Well, I still suggest beating him up, but," she sighs, "I guess you could just give in and ask him out. I think that's what he really wants."

"No thank you!" says Lammy, backing away and shaking her head quickly.

"C'mon! He'll probably stop stalking you and stuff like that if you two would just go on a little date."

"Ummmm, Ma-san..." says Katy.

"What?"

"You're nuts," Katy replies plainly.

"And I suppose you have better ideas?" frowns Ma-san.

"... uh... no?"

"Then be the heck quiet," smirks Ma-san. Katy simply sweatdrops and does as told.

"I'm not going on a date with him!" persists Lammy, obviously still upset about last night's incident.

"Well, how _else_ can you get him to stop?"

Lammy thinks about this for a moment and, shrugging her shoulders, mumbles, "... guitar-hit?" Ma-san grins. Lammy sighs, "I have no idea..."

"Well... maybe it's a temporary thing," says Katy, trying to play her optimistic role again. "He's probably still shocked over being dumped by the person whom he thought was his love."

"Maybe," says Ma-san. "Though that still doesn't explain why he's only chasing Lammy. It must be the guitar. Or something else..." she smirks as she looks toward her lamb friend, expecting her to know what she's talking about.

"Hmph," Lammy obviously does.

"Hey, I know!" Katy suddenly speaks up with a smile.

"What?"

"Let's give him a taste of his own medicine."

Lammy cocks an eyebrow. "Wouldn't he LIKE that?"

"Not if it invades _his_ privacy..." says Ma-san, rubbing under her chin interestedly.

"How?"

"I dunno," shrugs Katy. "Do the same thing he's been doing to you. Stalk him everywhere. Bust into his house when he's sleeping or dressing or whatever, anything before he does it to you. That may teach him a lesson, and it's non-violent, too."

'Awwwww, I wanted a guitar-hit...' complains Ma-san under her breath.

"I don't know..." says Lammy with a shake of her head, "wouldn't that send a signal that I'm interested in him?"

"Hm, the lamb could be right," Ma-san agrees.

"Maybe... Maybe not," shrugs the cat. "We're running out of options."

"I guess..." Lammy says in a low voice, seemingly close to considering Katy's idea.

"Well, it's that or be stalked forever," nods Ma-san. Then she smirks, "But hey, there's still the head-bash... Or you could date him."

Lammy frowns. "I'm not dating him Ma-san." Suddenly, a thought comes into her mind. But she is reluctant to bring it out... for she knows that the victim could get hurt even more. But she feels that she has to do this, to calm down her dog friend and teach him some manners, to end this whole mess for good so she can concentrate on more important matters. So, setting away any more reluctancy aside, she perks up and says, "Hey, maybe if he thinks I'm taken he'll give up!"

"Taken?" asks Katy curiously. "Like if you already have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, dear..." Katy replies in worry, shaking her head, "lie to him? I don't know about that..."

"Besides," adds Ma-san, "where are you going to find a boy that would like you anyway?" Then, realizing how terrible that came out, she quickly adds, "Not that I mean that in a bad way, of course!"

"Well... how about that Joe guy?"

"Joe!?" exclaims Katy.

Ma-san's face suddenly flares up at the mention of the name, pairing her drumsticks together and swooshing them around like mad. "JOE! I HATE him!"

"Yeah, Joe Chin I think his name is... Parappa doesn't like him so maybe if he thinks I'm seeing him, he'll back off."

"What if Joe thinks you like him (Joe) for real, though?" Katy asks.

"No no, I'll tell him flat out the truth."

"... then we'll just have to be lucky enough that he'd go along with the gag," nods Katy, still reluctant to let Lammy go along with her plan.

"...hate..." growls Ma-san, clutching her 'sticks tightly.

"Why are you so against him anyway, Ma-san?" Lammy asks her curiously.

Ma-san nearly explodes. "Because he's a stuck-up, two-faced, big-headed, oxymoron, son of a--!!"

"Well, I still need his help... try to be civil, please?"

"Whatever..."

"I'll go try to find Joe, you guys can stay here and rehearse."

"All right," Katy nods, "good luck."

"_He'll_ need it, if he doesn't want to be found by me!" growls the little whatever.

* * * * *

Joe Chin is peacefully resting in his little pool at the top of the building where the pizza place is at, blissfully relaxing and glad to not have a 'freaky little midget' destroy another one of his products today.

"Joe! Joe Chin!" a girly voice suddenly breaks his semi-slumber. He yawns and looks down to see a red-headed figure calling to him frantically. He squints his eyes to get a better focus on it and finally recognizes the girl guitarist from some months ago.

"Is there something you want!?" he shouts. "Come up here and tell me!"

Lammy climbs up the long, long ladder to the pool quickly and steps in front of him. Always one to feel self-conscious in front of people, she twiddles her fingers and shyly speaks, "Um, hi, I'm not sure if you know me, but I need to ask a favor."

"Ah, anything for a pretty face such as yours," grins Joe Chin.

"I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend," Lammy says simply.

Joe pauses for a long time, blinking his eyes confusedly. "... um... what?"

Lammy talks slower, "Pretend... to... be... my... boyfriend."

"I heard what you said, miss. I meant why would you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend? Not that I'm complaining and all..." he smirks.

"I just want to make a friend of mine think you are," says Lammy in a low voice; his smirk sure isn't making her feel comfortable.

"Why?" asks Joe curiously. "Are you planning to make that person jealous?"

"No, I want him to leave me alone."

"Ahhhhhh," the muscle-bound dog nods, before smirking, "Let me guess, is it Parappa ol' boy?"

"Yeah..." Lammy blinks, "how did you know?"

Joe Chin lets out a long sigh and shakes his head. "That boy, he once fought over me for the lovely Sunny Funny when I, too, had a crush on her. He just does not deserve to have any girl by his side-- He's such a... a... dirty commoner.

"Riiiiiight," Lammy responds with little interest, "will you help me then?"

"If it would teach him for messing with me then sure, miss. Though I do not understand why he would bug you when Sunny is his dreamgirl."

"Sunny dumped him..."

"Really, now?" says Joe Chin, his eyes widening with interest and half-surprise. "Ha, finally got tired of him, I suppose. Can't say I blame her."

"Just help," smirks Lammy, not even bothering to tell him the real reason why the sunflower girl broke up with her former boyfriend.

"All right, pretty thing. Just let me get dressed into more... public-worthy clothes."

"Okay." Lammy climbs back down the long, long ladder to the ground. She can't help but feel happy that this nightmare will end soon. But that stupid feeling begins attacking her again. Guilt. She quickly shrugs it off and waits for Joe Chin to come down.

* * * * *

Minutes pass, and Joe Chin, fully dressed, joins the redheaded lamb on the ground. "Now where would that womanizer rookie be?" he asks.

"I don't know," Lammy says as she looks around, "but he's found _me_ a lot the past few days."

Joe Chin suggests to her to turn around and start walking. She does as he instructs, walking down the sidewalk, and sure enough, as if on cue, she bumps right into Parappa, who falls down on his bottom. Joe smirks.

"OW! Not again..." the floppy-hat hero complains.

"Hey..." Lammy tries to pretend to be glad to see him. In a way, she is, but at the same time, she isn't...

"Hey Lammy. Um, what's up?"

Joe walks up to hold onto Lammy's paw, smiling but also hiding a smirk, "Why, this fair lady and I are going on a date to Pizza Palace."

One ear of Parappa's quickly perks up, "Date?"

"Uh... yeah," says Lammy, "sorry Parappa, I'm kind of taken."

The rapper's mouth hangs wide open, and he shakes his head in disbelief, turning to look at the bigger, stronger dog beside the girl.

"You heard her, Lammy is my girlfriend, I am her boyfriend."

"But... but..." Parappa's ears droop dramatically.

"Sorry Parappa..." Lammy says in a quiet voice, becoming interested in her shoes all of a sudden.

After a long, long pause, Parappa finally pipes "I see..."

"Yeah, you see, finally you do," says Joe Chin, unsincerely. "Face it, my dear boy, you and Lammy were just not meant to be together." Then he smirks-- Right here, right now is the perfect opportunity to take out his tensions against him, and Joe is more than glad to seize it. Seeing Parappa clench his fists in nearing depression only makes this little form of vengeance sweeter for the rich canine. "In fact, I doubt you are meant to have any girl by your side anyway. Why, I would not be surprised if any old girlfriends of yours left you like trash."

Parappa grumbles, "...one did."

"Oh?" Joe exclaims in mock surprise. "Well, then, that ought to tell you something. Now, run along little boy."

Once again, Parappa feels his heart torn in two. He whimpers and turns around, walking away, heartbroken and angry once again. One could have seen a tear fall down an eye......

Lammy silently watches him go. She opens her mouth to call to him but the words just won't come out. She looks down on the ground... those guilty emotions bashing her insides again. She pushes them away again and clenches her fists. Then she turns to Joe Chin; the smirking, satisfied Joe Chin. She shakes her head at his unsympathetic smirk incredulously. "... You didn't have to be so cruel..." she says to him.

"Only releasing past tensions, my fair lady," Joe Chin smiles, bowing respectfully. "I am quite happy to have gone along with this... play, my dear. And besides, now we're assured that he would not bother you anymore. He knows a real man when he sees one." He proudly points to himself.

"Whatever..." Lammy mutters, storming away from him.

"Leaving so soon?" Joe asks Lammy, who ignores him. "Okay, forget about me buying you pizza, then..." Joe says with a shrug, heading back to his 'private' pool.

Lammy grumbles to herself as she heads back to MilkCan's studio...

* * * * *

"...very good, Ma-san," says Katy Kat, "but you shouldn't bang on the drums TOO loud; it may even drown out my singing or Lammy's guitar. Did I mention my singing?"

"Sorry, I'll get it better next time."

"It's okay. Practice makes perfect, after all."

Lammy walks into the studio, looking mighty down. "Hey..." she says to them, barely above a whisper.

"Hey Lammy..." Katy studies Lammy's expression curiously, "Um, how did it go?"

"Well, I don't think Parappa will bother me anymore..."

"Oh, so the plan worked?" Ma-san asks.

"Yeah..." Lammy sighs, "... a little too well, maybe."

"What do you mean?" Katy asks her. "Did something bad happen?"

"Parappa looked about to burst into tears," replies Lammy, sadly.

"Gee," Katy frowns, "did you tell him off _that_ bad?"

Ma-san also frowns. "I don't think it was Lammy, more like that Joe Chin!" She growls viciously.

"Yeah," nods Lammy slowly, "he went wild with it."

Katy lets out a long sigh and idly strums a feew strings of her Bass, "That Joe probably hurt his feelings. I knew I should not have let you go along with this."

"Told you Joe is a son of a whatchamacallit."

"Well, he did what I wanted at least..." says Lammy. "Parappa will be fine."

"I hope so," Ma-san says with serious concern. "Sure I pick on him a lot, but I like the guy."

Katy Kat tries to be optimistic, though this time finding it hard to stay that way, "Lammy's right, I'm sure Parappa will be just fine. I betcha soon he'll be happily rapping against people as if nothing happened."

"Yeah, of course," replies Lammy with a nod.

"So, what should we do now? Rehearse some more or just go on home?" yawns Ma-san.

"I'm not really in the mood to rehearse anymore today..." Lammy responds sadly.

Katy smiles sympathetically. "I understand. Let's call it a day, girls." Ma-san yawns happily with Katy's decision.

* * * * *

While that MilkCan scene is happening...

At the local burger shop, Beard Burger, Parappa is sitting in his lonesome at a table far from the other customers with three empty cups. He is lying his arms on the table and resting his chin on them, sighing ever so deeply. He barely notices Colonel Noodle walking up to him with his fourth drink.

"What's your problem?" the large-haired boy asks.

Parappa takes the drink gently and sips on it slowly before responding, "Everything."

"Like?"

Parappa sighs again. "Like I said, everything. First Sunny Funny, who I thought was my 'true love', dumped me like yesterday's news just because we're different lifeforms... Then PJ and I have _nowhere_ to start our band 'cause we have no money to buy any studios... Next, I scare Lammy when I keep acting weird around her for some reason... I thought that maybe it's 'cause I like her.... But now I find out that Joe Chin of all people is her boyfriend! And he said a lot of stuff to me too, like I will never have a girl, I'll always be alone, yadda yadda. 'I gotta believe,' I say. Oh yeah, I gotta believe all right. I gotta believe that from the start of this week my life's turned into a piece of horsecrap!!" He ends his melodrama with a slam of his cup, spilling juice all over his shirt. "Aw (BLEEP!)" he howls.

Colonel Noodle simply blinks for a long time. He's certainly not used to hearing anyone other than himself give out long speeches. Not having much to say about the dog's problems, the human boy simply says, "... Good luck." He gives him a thumbs up and walks off.

Parappa looks after him and wrinkles his nose curiously, sipping the remainder of his drink. "What does he mean by that?" he whispers.

* * * * *

While those two scenes are going on...

In Teriyaki Yoko's Theater, Rammy is once again following the evil Teriyaki Yoko in her sneaky way, wondering if Yoko will blab more of her plan. She just needs a bit more information from the woman and then she'll finally find a way to trash her enemy, Lammy, before Yoko can do anything about it.

"Why do I always talk to myself?" Teriyaki Yoko says to... herself. "I need someone to talk to!"

Suddenly she crashes into a guy with a pumpkin for a head with stylish glasses. He blushes when he sees the sight of this unknown-species woman. "Oh, Ms. Yoko!" he stutters. I.. I am... very sorry..." He helps her up, blushing even further.

'It's that guy in love with Yoko,' Rammy mutters to herself with a frown. 'What does he see in her?'

"What are you doing bumping into me, Jack?" the woman asks the nervous guy darkly.

Jack can feel himself sweating. "Uh... I felt that you would... want someone to talk to, Ms. Yoko... Uh... yes..."

'Pathetic,' mumbles Rammy. 'She would never blab her plans to that loser.'

As if to back up Rammy's claim, Teriyaki Yoko cuts off his head with a swipe of her hand and continues on her way. "Annoying brat, I have things to do," she grumbles venomously.

"Oh, not again..." says the detached head of Jack.

Rammy shakes and nearly vomits as she continues to follow the mistress of evil.

"Hmmm. What should I do now?" Yoko says to herself.

"Why not check up on Lammy?" whispers Rammy, almost daring herself to say it out loud. "Maybe then not only would you more likely rant, but also I can see if she'll have a weakness I can exploit."

But instead Teriyaki Yoko responds, "Maybe I should punish Rammy again..."

Rammy backs away further into her hiding place, shakes her head and says to herself, "How can she punish me? I'm supposed to be 'fired.' Something tells me she's not going to blab tonight. I better get away for now."

The sleepy Yoko yawns and... well... what happens if you're not burping. Rammy nearly breaks out in laughter, but to her dismay Yoko nearly hears. "Huh? Who's there?" the woman demands as she looks around quickly, feeling not too good at the moment.

The source of the voice sneaks away quietly, grinning. 'Guess I'll have to find out on my own,' she thinks.

* * * * *

We finally switch back to the 'present' as MilkCan exits out of their studio, carrying their speciality instruments with them (Ma-san using her incredible strength to carry her _entire_ drumset), say their good-byes and go their separate ways. Lammy turns to head to her own home, slinking her guitar over her shoulder. All is quiet under the setting sun other than the typical sounds of people going about their business. Of course, all this is familiar to Lammy as she walked down these streets before. But, now... there's one particular element missing...

...no Parappa...

She sighs deeply and heads up to her apartment complex. Before entering, though, she looks back down on the ground. She remembers those two spots where Parappa bumped into her the past few days. The way he looked into her with those big, apologetic eyes, and the way he stuttered as he spoke...

She shakes her head and goes inside. 'You had to do it, Lammy,' she attempts to convince herself in her mind. 'He kept stalking you, so you had to teach him.' But as she steadily closes the door, she looks to the couch. She suddenly remembers the time when Parappa somehow entered her home and surprised her while casually watching television. And she remembers all too well how she practically exploded at him, and how he walked away with puppy whimpers. She felt bad about it then, but set those bad feelings aside later.

She kicks off her shoes and silently rests on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. She tries to enjoy the first peace and quiet she has for days, with no rapdog suddenly barging into her or scaring her out of her wits... And she does... for minutes. But then memories flash back to earlier today, where Lammy tricked Parappa into thinking that Joe Chin is her boyfriend... and where Joe Chin said all those horrible things to his face. Poor Parappa left the scene the most hurt person Lammy had ever seen in her life. His slow, heartbroken walk, his face drooping in the deepest of hurts, his tears falling steadily down his large puppy eyes... -- She's certainly not used to seeing the usually happy-go-lucky, energetic rookie rapper like _that_... -- ...And all this because she merely wanted him to stop following her.

Then Lammy sits up quickly and sighs. She says to herself that it isn't _totally_ Parappa's fault and reminds herself that crushes can do that to people sometimes. Parappa was merely being manipulated by his... attraction towards her... He even sincerely apologized after each goof-up. But she wouldn't listen; she was too miffed at his 'goof-ups' from the past few days, and did a cruel thing to get back at him. But now she realizes... just not like herself she was. She's supposed to be kind, caring, all-around nice... at least, that's how she wants to be. But the way she treated Parappa... her friend.......

"Oh no... What have I done?"

* * * * *

Later that night, Parappa finally sulks himself to sleep on the living room couch. Earlier he tried to talk about the recent events with his folks, but his father interrupted him, saying that he and his mother have "important business to do" upstairs. 'Yeah, right,' Parappa thought.

So now he's asleep in the darkened living room, an anime sleep bubble hanging out of his nose. However, he hears the faint sounds of a door knocking. Thinking it could be just his parents' "business" he drifts back to sleep. But then the knocks get louder. He slowly wakes up and discovers that they're coming from the front door.

"Uhhhh... (snort) who is it?" Parappa sleepily calls out.

"Lammy."

Parappa instantly shoots fully awake. Lammy? What is she doing here? He frowns deeply as he clearly remembers what she did to him earlier today. With a snort he asks, "What do _you_ want? You're going to boast how you had a wonderful date with Joe Chin?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay... I didn't wanna hurt you."

"Too late," says Parappa emotionlessly.

Lammy sighs, "Come on, open the door..."

Sighing, Parappa reluctantly opens the door for Lammy. Feelings of attraction no longer stir within him when he looks at her... "What?" he asks.

Lammy can just see the hurt expression of his face, and is immediately sorry for her cruel trickery. She pauses, sighs, and says sincerely, "I... just want to apologize."

"Why? You didn't want me following you anymore, so now I've stopped. Aren't you happy?"

"I still want you to be my friend, though..."

Parappa shakes his head. "How can I be your friend if you don't even want me around?"

Lammy looks at him incredulously, "I _do_ want you around, just not EVERYWHERE I go."

Parappa opens his mouth to say something else, but quickly closes it as he thinks about what she just said. He nods as he realizes that she's right-- He HAD been following her a little _too_ much. After all, if the same thing were happening he'd probably freak out too... Now he sees that he shouldn't be _too_ angry with her...

So, reducing his anger towards her to worthless dust, he looks to her with those sad puppy eyes and says, "I... wanted to apologize, too. You know, I really didn't _mean_ to invade your house. It's just that... that...."

Lammy simply nods, "I know, it's fine... just don't do it anymore."

"I wont, definently... Unless you ask," he winks with a smile.

"Uh-huh," mutters Lammy, smirking a little.

Then, seriously, he asks, "Um... You and Joe Chin aren't still going out, are you?"

Lammy shrugs and replies, "Mmm, we kinda... broke up," which is true, in a way.

"Ah," nods Parappa with a little smile. 'Got tired of him, I suppose,' thinks Parappa. 'Thank goodness, I was _really_ beginning to wonder what she sees in that jerk.'

"So," Lammy says, "can we be friends again?" her shy side suddenly invades and she looks to him nervously, wondering if her trick did send the rap rookie to the state of not wanting to be her friend anymore.

Fortunately, Parappa smiles and says honestly, "Well, if that'll also make you happy, then I'll be happy too...."

Lammy smiles back. "Good." Silence. A quite uneasy silence. They simply stare at one another... as if newfound feelings are stirring inside... But quickly, they shake it off. "Um, I guess I should head home then," says Lammy, suddenly shy.

"Okay. See ya around, Lam."

"See you later."

Lammy waves goodbye to him and leaves. Parappa waves back and slowly smiles, glad for things to be back to normal between them. But he still won't give up on her, though. The recent incidents were just a setback, but eventually he and she _will_ be together-together someday... 'I just know it,' whispers Parappa optimistically.

But unknown to both him and Lammy, a dark figure has escaped from a faraway island to keep a close eye on its rival... Hiding in the shadows, Rammy grins evilly and snickers madly...

"So... that dog is her weakness, eh? This could work out better than I thought. The time for revenge is closer than ever......."

  
* * * * *  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

"Revenge is Bittersweet," Chapter Four

by DragonShadow83 and VTBOTS

--------------------

The next morning, Parappa and PJ meet up at the ice cream parlor again, perhaps to continue their studio search. But Parappa--a cheerful, rejuvenated Parappa--has other things in his mind. PJ can see it in his eyes, and he smirks a bit and asks him, "What's up? You're lookin' mighty happy about something."

"I am. My stalking problem has finally been cured."

"That's cool," says PJ proudly as he loudly slurps on his chocolate dessert. "How?"

"Well, I got Lammy really mad the other day so I tried to stop following her. But when I bumped into her again I found her with Joe Chin. She said that he's her boyfriend, and Joe, being the jerk he is, said all kinds of bad things to me..." Parappa's ears droop as he recalls that moment.

"Yeah...," PJ slurps, "go on."

"Well, I went home that night and Lammy came by. She apologized to me about the stuff Joe said and wanted to be my friend again."

"And, of course, you gladly accepted."

"Of course! What's more, her and Joe Chin broke up. So now I may have a chance at her again, without following her everywhere she goes. I feel so happy."

"Sheesh," smirks PJ, shaking his head, "what is it with you and girls?"

Parappa simply smirks, and the duo munch on their ice cream in silence for minutes, though PJ seems to have things running through his mind as well. After some hard thinking, PJ finally takes a breath and speaks up, "Parappa... I think this band thing is too much hassle."

"What do you mean?" asks Parappa, curiously.

"Don't you remember all that walking we did the other day? We were doing that for half the day! And all thinking made my head hurt. And all this just to form a 'band,' to do something we've already done and been really good at two or three times now?"

Parappa rubs under his chin in consideration.

"C'mon, buddy," PJ continues, "we don't need to be a band to be good or popular. Heck, hardly anyone even knew about you when you first performed with MC King Kong Mushi, and they loved you. As for me, well, I hope I don't have _that_ many girls dive on me again like last time..." Then, grimacing, he whines, "They nearly broke my shades! Never break my shades!" Returning to his normal tone, he says, "But anyway, you see what I'm saying, pal?"

Parappa nods, "Yeah, I do. You're absolutely right, PJ. Let's quit this band thing; I really don't know why I got the idea."

"Lammy gave it to you, remember?" smirks PJ. "You probably just went along with it in hopes of impressing her and the other girls or something."

"Probably," says Parappa, laughing a bit. Then, after a couple minutes of silence, his expression turns serious. "Hey, PJ, do you sometimes get the feeling you're being watched?"

"Only in the shower..."

Parappa blinks, "Huh?"

"Oh... nothin'," shrugs PJ. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, it's just that last night I could have sworn somebody was watching Lammy and me. Of course, it could be just me..."

Now it's PJ Berri's turn to blink, "That is pretty weird... You need more sleep."

"Yeah, maybe," nods Parappa, rubbing the side of his head. "Maybe I better go home and take a short nap."

"Sure, I'll finish your ice cream for you," smiles PJ, staring into Parappa's neglected dessert with wide, desiring eyes.

"Go 'head," shrugs the dog as he heads out the parlor.

"Sweet!" PJ devours the ice cream, almost completely unaware that his friend isn't even there anymore.

* * * * *

'Yeah, a nap,' Parappa says to himself. 'This week has been quite stressful. Maybe when I wake up I can take Lammy out for ice cream. She sure loves the stuff. Yeah, I think that'll be good.' Parappa's tired mood shifts back into cheerful optimism as he thinks about his plan, and can't wait to take that nap and wake up again.

Unfortunately, all plans are cancelled when a shaded figure suddenly swings down from a street light, grabs the top of his jaw, and hauls him up from the ground. A bewildered Parappa tries to scream for help but to no avail, but it only comes out in muffles. He tries to struggle free but the stranger simply grips unto him harder and tells him to shut up. It jumps from light pole to light pole with incredible agility, clear onto the rooftop of a building.

When the figure finally drops the puppy _hard_ on the rooftop floor, Parappa, finally breaking free, gets a good look at his capturer: A girl that looks like Lammy... but looks as if she's been drenched in bleach or something.

"Where does Lammy live!?" the girl demands, granting Parappa full confidence that this is truly _not_ the Lammy he knows.

"Who the heck are you, and why should I tell you!?" says Parappa in an equally demanding tone.

"I'm Rammy, and you should tell me because I want to know."

"Why should I tell a total stranger where Lammy lives? What do you want from her, anyway?"

Rammy shrugs, "I just want to give her a message."

Parappa cocks an eyebrow, scratching his nose. "A message, huh?" he says in disbelief. "Why don't you tell me what this message is, and I'll tell her."

"That's too complicated," sighs Rammy.

"Well, to be honest, I don't quite trust you just yet. How would I know you're not really planning to hurt her?"

"I promise I won't use your information to hurt her," the dark girl says in an unconvincing tone.

Parappa shakes his head again. He still doesn't trust her, considering she's a total stranger and everything. He quickly forms a plan to tell her a 'little white lie'; she won't know. "Uh, I don't quite remember," Parappa says, pretending to think really hard, "but, uh, if I know my usual luck well, I usually bump into her whenever I walk around..."

Rammy frowns and knocks on his forehead, "Don't lie."

Parappa grumbles, shakes his head, and sighs. "I... can't tell. I just can't." He crosses his arms bravely. But any sign of bravery disappears immediately when Rammy grabs and holds him over the edge of the building.

"Now?"

Parappa gulps, sweating profusely. "Now, uh, you wouldn't want murder to bite you in the behind, now would you?"

"Tell me," Rammy growls seriously.

Rammy holds him further from the edge and lowers him, forcing him to look adown. Panicking, he gulps quite loudly and sweats more than ever. After an unsettling silence, he reluctantly and shakily points over to MilkCan's studio in the distance. A now satisfied Rammy moves away from the edge of the rooptop, though still holding her grip on the dog.

"Good," says Rammy, "now I know where to send the ransom note."

Hearing that, Parappa begins to panic. "Ransom...? Oh, no, you don't want to kidnap little ol' me! I'm a dog! I might... mark territory or something!" he says lamely.

Rammy's face twists into a menacing frown, and growls, "Mark me and you won't be marking anything ever again!"

Parappa gulps loudly and hunches his legs together defensively over her threat, shaking his head quickly. Somehow, seeing this mutt so scared and whimpering pathetically draws a smirk from Rammy, and she couldn't help but laugh in her mind. But she re-focuses on her objective, grips unto him tightly again, and leaps over buildings until she reaches one across from the studio. She snatches Parappa's shoe puts a piece of paper in it, hurtling in at the studio's window...

* * * * *

"Darn it, I almost had it that time!" complains a frustrated Lammy, after playing a riff at the wrong moment.

"You were just rushing, Lammy," says Katy Kat as she restacks her song lyrics. "But don't worry... just a bit more practice, and--"

The cat's sentence is halted when an ear-piercing sound of glass-shattering echoes throughout the studio, alerting the band.

"What the...!?" Lammy and Katy say simultaneously.

"Look!" Ma-san shouts, pointing to an object on the floor. The girl band runs to it and discovers it to be a familiar shoe with a piece of paper in it.

Lammy picks it up and reads: " 'Come to the island of Teriyaki Yoko tomorrow or the dog bites the big bone, signed, someone who hates you'... Oh no, MilkCan has a critic!" eeps the lamb, backing off to a chair, shaking and drumming her fingers on her face. "Oh no, oh no, oh no, I knew I messed up, I just knew it, and now somebody hates MilkCan, oh I'm such a goof, such a--"

"No, Lammy, it's not your fault," Katy interrupts, hating to see her friend put herself down (especially when she does that almost all the time). Looking at the note again she continues, "This note is rather strange, though-- What does it mean by 'or the dog bites the big bone'?"

"Hm, it'll have to be some dog we know," muses Ma-san. "Hmmmm. We don't care for Joe Chin, so it might be... Parappa!"

"I don't get it, why would someone threaten Parappa?" wonders Lammy out loud, calming down a bit.

"Probably to give us a reason to chase them," says Katy.

"Why would they want that?"

"Who knows," shrugs Ma-san. "This person hates one or all of us for some reason. I say we get PJ Berri and try to think of a way to get to this island."

Lammy scratches behind her head, "Eh, forget PJ, he couldn't help a dog sniff his butt." Ma-san simply smirks.

"Well, anyway," says Katy, "how do we get to this Teriyaki Yoko island? Does anybody know how?"

"A plane?" suggests Lammy.

Katy sweatdrops, feeling slightly foolish for not thinking of that. "... that makes sense. Okay. I say we forget rehearsal today and book us a flight now. Who knows how long it would take to get there."

"Yeah, good idea," nods the redheaded lamb.

So MilkCan agree on their plan and dash the looooong way to the airport.

* * * * *

When the girls finally arrive, they collapse at the front lobby, inhaling and exhaling heavily.

"Too... far..." coughs Lammy.

"Oh, my kitties are killin' me," groans Katy Kat, sitting down on a chair and taking her shoes off to rub her sore feet.

"At least you two are wearing shoes!" whines Ma-san, falling out on a nearby chair as well, trying to shake off the pain of her big, aching feet.

Crawling up to the counter, Lammy shyly asks, "Th-Three tickets to... uh... T-Teriyaki Yoko's island, p-please."

"There is no such place," drones the clerk.

"Well, we don't know the name of it!"

"No one around here has heard of Teriyaki Yoko?" asks Katy, her tail whooshing in an agitated way. "She lives in an island of some sort."

"Well, which islands? The world is full of islands."

"Well, we're in a crazy enough world already," says Ma-san, "so there'll probably be a big sign that says 'Teriyaki Yoko's Island' or something. ...right?"

When the clerk asks what Ma-san said, Katy translates for her. "I'm sorry, but there's no such place," the clerk then says almost emotionlessly.

"I see," Katy says in a low voice, "thank you." The clerk nods as MilkCan goes back to their seats in the lobby.

"Well, that was interesting," grumbles Katy. "_Now_ what? How does this crook expect us to find him/her and Parappa if no one knows where this island is?"

Lammy smirks a little, "Mabye THAT'S the joke..."

"...wha?" blinks Ma-san.

"Leave a notice we can't possibly get to so this person can get his laughs at our inability to do it."

"...heh, genius," says Katy, rubbing under her chin. "Crooked... but genius."

The smallest MilkCan girl sighs deeply, "Great, he's laughing at us. So now what do we do? Our concert's tomorrow, and that's most likely the deadline to find Parappa's kidnapper. So we have until then to rescue him."

"We find a way to do it..." says Lammy, leaning back on the chair. "Someone in this town HAS to know the name of the island she's on, or where it's at... Someone in show business.... Hmmmm."

* * * * *

A little bit later, in a private room at the television studio...

"Chop-Chop Master Onion, what have I told you about looking that way toward me during the show?" asks his female assistant (Parappa the Rapper 2, second stage), looking at him with disinterest. "I know we're supposed to help adult couples love one another, but... those eyes you give me seem more than just pretending."

"Ah, but my sweet," says Chop-Chop in a deep, 'manly' voice, "they are not pretending, you have seen through me like a bird sees through a cloud."

"Whatever," the girl (let's call her Amy) rolls her eyes, and is relieved when repeated knocks on the door interrupts this creep from saying... or doing any more. She goes to open the door and finds three girls panting heavily, about ready to collapse.

"Should've... taken... a taxi....." coughs Katy.

"What are you kids doing here?" asks Amy.

"Um, hi," replies Katy after catching her breath. "We're here to talk to Chop-Chop Master Onion about something."

Very happy to hear that, Amy suddenly pushes them in. "Be my guest!" she says to the confused trio.

Chop-Chop scribbles the name 'Cop-Hoq-adre-neon' on a piece of paper and hands it to them, "There, my autograph."

Katy Kat blinks and takes it slowly. "Uh, thanks... But that's not what we're here for."

"Oh? Well, my assistant is currently taken."

"The heck you talkin' about?" blinks Ma-san, scratching behind her head confusedly. "We just want to ask you something important. A friend's life is in danger."

Chop-Chop, too, scratches behind his head, since he doesn't understand her language. When Katy Kat translates for him, though, he says, with interest, "Oh?"

Katy explains the situation to him, up to where they decided to ask Chop-Chop Master Onion, the only other big person in show business other than MC King Kong Mushi, for the location of Teriyaki Yoko, knowing his great wisdom in many things... or so most people think.

"Ah, Teriyaki Yoko..." he sighs sadly.

"You know her!?" all three girls said simultaneously with interest.

Chop-Chop nods slowly. "Once, we were in love. We were the happiest couple you could ever imagine; nothing could ever break us apart... We were... truly soulmates. Then one day, a man with a pumpkin for a head discovered her and told her of a faraway place that is in desperate need of musical talent, and offered to be her agent. She came to me a while later and said one of the most dreaded things a woman could say to a man: 'Sorry, Chop-Chop... but my career comes first.' (sigh) She was never interested in ME after that..."

Katy Kat, Lammy, and even Ma-san are deeply moved by his sad story, and they can't help but shed a tear. (Well, Ma-san forced one back.) Katy's ears droop sympathetically as she calmly consoles the heartbroken teacher, "How awful, Mr. Onion. I'm sorry."

Chop-Chop waves his hand to say 'Oh, it's all right' as he sighs and blows his nose on a handkerchief. "Anyway... what did you need to know? he asks.

"Well, we need to know what's the name of Teriyaki Yoko's island and where it is at, so we can book us a flight there."

"It has no name, but if I must... I can take you there."

"You can? Great!" exclaims Ma-san. Chop-Chop may not know what she said, but her expression is enough to tell him what.

"I don't know about this..." says Lammy nervously.

"It'll be fine, all we need is a bonfire with a bag of marshmallows."

"... a fire with a bag of marshmallows?" wonders Katy, out loud. Unseen by her and her friends, Amy has that 'uh-oh' look...

"Yes, only with the sacred marshmallow-burning can we get to the island in time to save your friend."

"He's lost it," she says aside to the others.

"We really don't have a choice, Lam," replies Katy.

"Splendid," says Chop-Chop, clapping his hands once, "now you four come with me to the camping grounds."

"Four?" Amy sweatdrops, "Uh, that's not including me, is it?"

"Of course it is."

"Great..." she mumbles sarcastically as she reluctantly follows him, along with the other girls.

* * * * *

The five make it to the camp grounds under the setting sun, and after setting up a bonfire, they sit around it. Lammy still seems skeptical to go along with this as she twidles her fingers, becoming interested in her shoes again.

"Now," says the onion master, "who has the marshmallows?"

"Right here, chopnerd," replies Amy as she produces a bag of marshmallows that conveniently came out of nowhere.

"Now, all of you remove your clothes."

Lammy immediately shoots a _very_ strange look at him. "....... Huh?" Her friends respond basically the same way.

"If you want to save your friend, you must do as I say."

Katy grumbles to Lammy's side, "Must we?"

"No..." responds Lammy, very shyly and nervously, "but should we?" They look to Amy for help, but she is merely filing her nails. It's almost as if she has experienced this many times before.

"Uh... excuse me, Mr. Onion, sir," Katy says in a worried state, "but we really don't want to, uh, expose ourselves... Isn't there another way?"

"Clothes are not allowed on the island."

"You're still wearing yours," Lammy points out.

"... GIRLS' clothes are not allowed," Chop-Chop then says with slight hesitation.

Katy says to Lammy's side again, "This must be some type of trick. How is it that girls' clothes are not allowed but guys' are? Teriyaki Yoko sounds like a woman, so you'd think it'd be the other way around if she's that type of woman...."

"What are we supposed to do though, Katy?" says Lammy, although she's sharing the same reluctant feelings as her. "We can't FORCE him to take us, and we need his help."

After pondering this for a minute or two, Katy sighs a long sigh and reluctantly agrees to do what Chop-Chop instructs. Ma-san pairs her drumsticks together, swings it like a baseball bat, then says with a deep frown, "But if you try anything even a little naughty, I'll karate chop-chop your behind, got that!?"

"I do not intend to," replies Chop-Chop, eyes closed.

Ma-san simply snorts as she, Katy, and Lammy very reluctantly (and Lammy VERY shyly) strip themselves of their clothing. The assistant woman does the same, in a 'Here we go again' manner.

Immediately covering herself in extreme modesty, Lammy timidly asks the romantic karate master, "W-What are w-w-we supposed to do n-n-now?"

"Now... we roast marshmallows," says he as he sits in front of the fire and holds the stick of marshmallows over it. The assistant hands an equal amount of the soft, chewy thing to each MilkCan member, and they do as Chop-Chop instructs.

"Okay... then what?" asks Katy as she covers herself with one paw and holds the marshmallow stick with the other.

"We eat the marshmallows."

"Do they give us the ability to fly or something?" asks Lammy curiously.

"They taste delicious," responds Chop-Chop with a smile. Ma-san sweatdrops.

"Well, I guess they do taste really good..." Katy admits as she chews on her marshmallow, "but if they don't make us fly, how do we get into the island?"

"Island?" he asks.

"Teriyaki Yoko's island, so we can save our friend."

"Oh yes, that's right," he nods at the reminder. He for some reason gets up and walks around the bonfire to them. "To get to her island... you must clear your mind!"

Then suddenly, as quick as PJ Berri would swallow a piece of chocolate cake, he kicks the three of them in the head, knocking them out instantly. "See you there..." He then looks to Amy, who's staring at him in disbelief. He smiles and says, "Then again, maybe not."

* * * * *

"Ohhhhhhhhh, my head...." groans Katy Kat as she and her girl friends finally regains consciousness.

"Ugh... remind me to eat a lot of onions when I get home..." frowns Lammy, rubbing her sore head slowly.

"You an' me both, sista," smirks Ma-san, shaking the aftereffects of Chop-Chop's kick out of her head.

Lammy looks around groggily for a minute, then asks, "Where are we?"

"Um, aren't we still at the campgrounds?" Katy asks, her vision not quite cleared yet. "... and where's that other girl..."

"This place looks different." Lammy looks around some more, and suddenly familiarization hits her as she discovers that they're in a dark jungle-looking place, with a large, fancy building in the distance. "Hey... I know this place."

"You've been here before?" asks Katy as her vision finally returns to normal. "Is this the island?"

"Yeah," nods Lammy, who looks down at herself and, blushing furiously, almost immediately covers herself. "Darn it, I wish we had clothes on..."

Katy sighs as she, too, covers her no-no places, though not quite as frantic as Lammy. "Maybe some clothes would be conveniently lying around?" she suggests, trying to keep up her optimism though it's mighty hard to at the moment.

"Hopefully," says Ma-san, whirling her drumsticks skillfully. 'Glad I held on tight with my babies,' she thinks with a slight smile.

"See any?" the unclothed lamb asks, looking around.

Katy shakes her head, "No. Guess we gotta look around and ask for some, and then find Parappa. We still have tomorrow, don't we?"

"Yeah, we have a little time left over."

So the poor girls make their way out of the foresty part of the jungle and in front of the building Lammy saw earlier, to see if it's a clothing shop or if anyone would be there willing to give away some clothes. When Lammy gets a good look at the building, however, she suddenly puts her arms out and stops them. "Hey wait! That's her place."

Katy shakes her head, "That singer lady Teriyaki Yoko? Great. So where _can_ we go where there won't be... so many people?"

"Um... I don't know," mutters Lammy, "this island is only fifty feet around."

"... Well, there's a bright side to this," says Ma-san, smiling and giggling a bit. "If they do see us, at least we now might get more male fans. Hee hee hee!"

"Well, Katy might..." When Katy goes "Huh?", Lammy replies, "We all know everyone likes you more."

"Oh come on," says Katy with a wave of her paw, "people love you and Ma-san, too."

"Of course they would," smirks Ma-san, before striking a pose. "What guy could possibly resist this sexy bod, anyway?"

Katy snickers, "Gee, Ma-san, first you were modest back at the campgrounds, but now you seem willing to show your stuff."

"Hey!" pouts Ma-san, "I meant guys _my_ age. Chop-Chop is way older than I am!"

After minutes of silent contemplating, Katy simply shrugs, smirks and covers herself discreetly, saying, "Oh heck, let's just swallow our pride and go inside..."

"If you say so," says Lammy in a low, reluctant voice, covering herself discreetly.

"Let's get this over with," mumbles Ma-san as she and the girls step inside the large theater of Teriyaki Yoko's, with one main objective in their minds: To save their friend Parappa....

* * * * *  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

"Revenge is Bittersweet," Chapter Five

by VTBOTS and DragonShadow83

--------------------

Katy Kat of the nude MilkCan girls attempts to open the large entrance door, but is having some difficulty. "Gosh, this's a tough door. Maybe the theater's closed...."

"Allow me," volunteers Ma-san as she, with a 'HIII-YA!', kicks the door open effortlessly.

"Nice one, now we won't get arrested for breaking and entering," grumbles Lammy sarcastically. Ma-san proudly smirks at her accomplishment.

"It's a public place anyway... I think, so it shouldn't matter," says Katy, calmly. "Let's just go inside and look around."

So they enter Teriyaki Yoko's theater to do just that, covering themselves (moreso for Lammy and Katy. Not too long after going in, they already receive male stares. One male in particular, the pitbull dog who had his television broken by the owner of this theater, and so was upset for a while, grins broadly at the sight of the poor girls, particularly at the lamb, who simply nervously smiles as she waves with only her fingers.

"Hey there, good-looking," says the pitbull, grinning perversely at her features. "How about you and I go to my room and... you know? Heh heh heh!"

Lammy, blushing, steps back and nervously shaking her head, continually mumbling "No, no, no, no...." Luckily for her, Katy Kat is by her side, and the blue feline roundhouse kicks the perverted mutt in the jaw, forcing him all the way to a trashcan. Lammy silently thanks Katy, who nods in return.

"Ahhh... women!" mumbles the dog blissfully as he slips into unconsciousness. The other males back off when they get a good look at the ferocious expression of the cat. She points dangerously at them, making sure to look extra, extra mean.

"All right, BOYS, any of you gonna try perverted stuff at us, hmmmm?" They immediately shake their heads. "Good! Now where's the women's dressing room!?" They point to the nearest room in a nearby hallway. "Thank you!" With that, she storms off with the rest of MilkCan and, after walking out of the guys' field of vision, softens her expression and almost laughs. When the girls are out of earshot, the guys immediately talk among themselves, saying things like 'Wooo, that cat is hot! An' a pretty darn tough cookie! I'd want to (do this and that)!" or "You kidding me? She and the lamb can't compare to the little one-- she's sexay!!" or "That _midget_!? C'mon... that lamb is so (blahity blah blah)".

* * * * *

The girls enter the dressing room that the guys back near the entrance led them to. Fortunately, it's empty, so they grabbed what clothes they can get, though Lammy feels guilty for stealing. They re-emerge from the room in their new clothes: Lammy in a sparkling red dress; Katy in long, expensive blue flair jeans (almost like her original slacks but fancier) and short, black shirt; and Ma-san in a dress almost exactly like her original dress, except this one is dark purple.

"I like this place," Lammy comments, smiling as she looks over her pretty dress, and greatly relieved to no longer be nude as well.

"Perfect!" Katy exclaims at her new wardrobe.

"Not exactly my favorite color, but it'll do. Now to find Parappa," says Ma-san seriously.

"... Any idea where to look?"

"None here," says Katy, "there are a lot of rooms in this theater it seems."

"The kidnapper has to be here somewhere... unless he/she tricked us."

"I doubt this person would trick us; he or she wants us too badly for some reason." She looks around for a bit and shudders. "This place kinda creeps me out. I suggest we should stick together and look through all the rooms."

"Sounds good to me..." Lammy agrees. So Parappa's Angels... uh, I mean MilkCan look through one room that they think looks suspicious.

"Hello?" mumbles Katy.

"Hellooooo, _hellooooo_, _HELLOOOOO_! HELLO!" tune three singer guys.

"...they can't be it," mumbles Ma-san as she closes the door.

They enter another room, and find a cat guy and a squirrel boy.

"Holy most-wanted, Cat Guy!" exclaims the boy. "Isn't that MilkCan!?"

"You're right, old buddy!" responds the older guy. "I believe that you-know-who wants one of them! We best not be around them; TO THE CAT SLIDE!" Suddenly some corny music plays out of nowhere as the cat person pulls back the head of a statue, revealing a secret passage behind the bookcase leading to a slide of some sort. The duo slide down the passage and the bookcase moves back to place. THe music stops as suddenly as it started. The MilkCan girls blink in total confusion and _very_ slowly close the door.

"Hey, what did that guy mean by 'I believe you-know-who wants one of them'?" asks Lammy. "Could they be talking about the kidnapper?"

"Possibly," replies Ma-san, "though I thought kidnappers would usually keep things like this quiet. Hmmm."

The girls shrug it off for now and continue on, checking door to door for their kidnapper, when they finally reach the most decorative door they've seen thus far. Lammy opens the door to the room, finding...

"HEY!" Teriyaki Yoko shouts angrily, whirling around. To her great surprise, she finds MilkCan, particularly her most wanted enemy. "YOU!?"

"You know us?" asks Katy, before whispering to Lammy, "Is this Teriyaki Yoko?"

"Yeah..." Lammy nods.

"What are you doing here!?" Yoko demands. She sure wasn't expecting to see the girl she's planning to exact her revenge on to be _here_, _now_. Especially since her plan hasn't even come into complete formation yet. With her enemy here... she has to improvise. But how?

"A friend of ours has been kidnapped," says Katy, answering her demand, "and a note said that that person is keeping him in this island." She pauses... "You're not the one, are you?"

Teriyaki Yoko blinks. "Kidnapped? Someone's being devious right under my nose without telling me?"

"... okay, so you're not the kidnapper. Well... we're sorry for disturbing you Ms. Yoko, so we really must be on our way to save our friend."

Katy turns to walk away, when Yoko suddenly grabs Katy by the arm. "Who is " she immediately demands in the cat's face. Ma-san clenches her drumsticks, ready to fight just in case.

"Ack, we don't know," says Katy nervously, "it never told us who it is."

"Grrrr," growls Yoko viciously, "how _dare_ they try to use MY island for revenge on someone I wanted revenge on!"

Lammy almost immediately blinks and takes a step forward. "... Hey, wait a minute..."

"Um, what do you mean?" says Katy in an equally suspicious tone.

"Oh... nothing," mumbles Yoko, catching her mistake. "Come on, we should find them!" says Yoko in a mock-determined tone of voice as she walks ahead of the girls. They all eye her, unconvinced.

"Something smells, and you know us girls shower in the morning," Ma-san says aside to her friends.

"Yeah," agrees Katy, "her short rant earlier made me suspicious."

"Who does she want revenge on?" Lammy wonders.

"Stop whispering and come on, quickly!" Teriyaki Yoko shouts to them, seeming to be in big hurry for some reason.

So the MilkCan girls reluctantly follow her... but keep their guard up. She leads them through the hallways of her large theater, eventually winding up in a cellar. When Ma-san gets a good look inside, she suddenly backs off, pulling her friends with her. "Hey, um, we don't want to look in there, c'mon, let's try somewhere else..."

"Um... yeah, what she said: Try somewhere else!" translates Katy, equally reluctant.

Ignoring them, Teriyaki Yoko screams in the cellar, melodramatically, "Anybody in there!?" The girls grunt and cover their ears. "HELLO!?" Yoko screams again, stalking deeper into the cellar.

"I don't think there is anyone in there, Ms. Yoko..." says Lammy.

"If someone's here they're in here, it's the only hiding place on the island."

Just then, Katy's sensitive feline ears pick up faint sounds deeper in, "Hey... I think I heard something. Maybe it's, uh, our friend."

"Leave if you want to," Yoko says, waving her hand toward the direction of the sounds, "I won't allow someone to take revenge behind my back!"

Lammy stares at her in silence. Katy shakes her head and speaks, "... you sure are talking a lot about revenge for some reason."

Yoko catches herself again and, sweatdropping, she says, "What? Oh, it's no reason..."

Katy says aside to Lammy, "Should we go in and see after all?"

"What else _can_ we do?" Lammy replies. So she and her friends reluctantly walk further into the cellar to find where the voice is coming from. "Parappa...?" Lammy softly calls.

A faint, familiar voice responds, "Ohhhhhh.... Ninety-nine bottles of cola on the wall... feel like I drunk 'em all...." And more complaining noises follow. MilkCan is more than happy to hear the sound of his voice.

"There he is!" shouts Lammy as she and her friends run deeper into the tunnel ahead of Teriyaki Yoko. Yoko "hmmmmm"s and stays behind, rubbing under her chin, contemplating on something as she watches the others go ahead.

"L... Lammy? Is that you?" groans Parappa, his voice sounding closer now.

"I'm here, Parappa!" exclaims a relieved Lammy as she runs up to him. "Are you okay? Who did this?" she asks as she looks over the puppy.

"It's... some girl that looks like you..." He tries to pick himself up by hanging on to the wall but slides back down on his bottom. Man, she has poor hospitality, I'll tell you that..." He eyes her and the other two girls strangely, wondering why they're in such expensive (yet pretty darn good) clothing. But he shrugs it off, assuming they were on their way to something... He sure likes how Lammy looks in her dress, though, but looks away for a second when he feels his cheeks becoming hot.

"Looks like me?" asks Lammy as she undoes his shackles quickly, helping him stand up.

"Yeah, 'cept her fur, clothes, and hair are dark. Twin sister of yours?"

"Not that I know of... -- What?" She suddenly says when they all hear the door slam at the entrance. Teriyaki Yoko is nowhere in sight.

Katy Kat growls deep under her throat, gritting her teeth angrily, "That... That... I KNEW IT!" She dashes to the door of the cellar to open it, but it won't open. "It won't budge!"

"W-W-We're locked down here?" Lammy worriedly asks.

"What!?" shouts a voice angrily. "I was about to spring my trap!" Its source leaps from the top, crossing her arms in mixtures of frustration, anger, and disappointment.

Parappa points to her, frowning, "It's her! She's the poor hospitality girl: Rammy!"

"Huh? Aw man!" whines Rammy at the realization that she revealed herself too soon.

"YOU did this!?" asks Lammy, now recognizing the unfortunately familiar kidnapper of Parappa's.

"Yeah yeah, whatever, we have more to worry about!"

"Yeah, but why did you kidnap Parappa?" asks Katy curiously.

Rammy answers her by pointing accusingly at Lammy, and shouts angrily, "YOU stole my gig!"

"What? What gig?" blinks Lammy innocently.

"RAGH! Shut up! You know what gig you gig-thief!"

At the mention of the word 'gig', Lammy suddenly remembers one of her own... One that is arriving way too soon now.... "Gig... Oh gosh, I forgot, _our_ gig is tomorrow," she says, refering to her and MilkCan.

But Parappa says, "Tomorrow? Uh, don't you mean tonight?"

The MilkCan girls' jaws nearly drop to the floor. "... It's tomorrow already??" gasps Katy, shaking her head.

"How long were we out!?" wonders Lammy out loud, slapping her paws to her cheeks in panic.

" 'Out'?" asks Parappa. "What are you girls talking about?"

"Chop-Chop Master Onion knocked us out!"

"Him?? Why?" asks Parappa, sounding surprised.

Katy rubs the back of her neck nervously, saying, "Um... We don't want to explain at the moment. Let's just try to find a way out of here."

"The only way out now is deeper in," smirks Rammy, "and there's a lot of weird stuff in there."

"... Are you sure?" says Lammy. "You're not just trying to get us eaten?"

"Try the door again if you don't believe me."

So Ma-san, being the strong one she is, hops over to open the cellar door... And the hallway is replaced by...

...a large room with a colorful floor that looks like stones and pebbles from faraway, but if looked at closely one could swear they see little faces of some sort.

"What the..." gasps Ma-san and Katy in confusion.

"Yieeeeeeep!" Parappa yelps, cowering behind his redheaded lamb.

"Well... you weren't kidding, were you?" says Lammy.

"I never kid," replies Rammy in a slightly unconvincing tone of voice.

"Let's go!" Katy says excitedly before running in. But the moment she steps into the room the floor comes to life and it moves in a wavering tide-like motion! The bewildered feline finds herself unable to control herself as she is caught in this tricky floor's movement, constantly getting bumped up, then falling back down again over and over again. It's like some wacky amusement park ride.

"Katy!" the others (except Rammy) call out to her, but she only responds with screams and complaints. Finally, she is bumped right back into the cellar, landing on her face in front of the group. Ma-san immediately closes the door. Dazed, Katy stands up wobbly, looking worse for wear. 

She licks her paws and slicks it back down on her line of blonde hair with a groan. "And I just had it brushed..." she whines.

Rammy smirks a bit. "Teriyaki Yoko sometimes unlocks the door on purpose, and uses her powers to change the appearance of the room it leads to -- but most, if not all of them, are traps, and it's near-impossible to escape them. She does this to prisoners she really hates..."

"_Now_ you tell us..." mutters Parappa, also wondering to himself why Teriyaki Yoko would 'really hate' them. 'Maybe it's because of Rammy,' he thinks, not knowing that Teriyaki Yoko has no idea that Rammy is in the cellar with the ones she truly wanted to trap.

"Well, what now?" Lammy asks.

"Well, we could try waiting a bit, then reopen the door," Parappa suggests.

"What should we do while waiting?"

Rammy smirks, "How about, let's jump on the pipe head first?"

"Ha, ha," mutters Lammy sarcastically.

"Well, we could talk about what gig you were blabbering about, Rammy," says Katy Kat.

Rammy suddenly remembers how anger she was at Lammy earlier and shouts, "The one she stole from me!"

"I never stole anything from you!" Lammy shouts back, upset and annoyed at this constant accusation.

"Certainly you're just mistaking, Rammy?" Parappa asks. "Lammy would never steal from anyone."

"I was supposed to be the star of Teriyaki's show. But because SHE stole it, Teriyaki fired me!"

"But... I had nothing to do with that! I didn't even _want_ to play!"

"Yeah," nods Katy, "you can't really blame Lammy if the people were dumb enough to believe that she was you."

"It's her fault!" flares Rammy.

"Was not!" counters Lammy.

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Um... I don't think this is the right time for arguments..." mumbles Parappa timidly.

"Stay out of this, dogboy!" both Rammy... AND Lammy shout at him, forcing him to back out and whimper.

"Humph!" they huffed. But Lammy softens a bit and mouths to Parappa 'Sorry, didn't mean to.' Parappa nods.

"Well, Rammy," says Katy as calmly as she can, "can I ask you something else? If Teriyaki Yoko fired you, whare are you still doing here on her island?"

"Plotting my revenge against her AND the stupid (bleep) that took my job!"

Parappa mumbles, "Uhhhh... Is it their fault you were late?"

"Who asked you!" Rammy viciously shouts, once again causing Parappa to whimper -- he's not used to being talked to this way.

"Don't yell at him!" says Lammy with a frown, standing in front of Parappa.

"You can't bully me, beeotch!"

"Stop talking like that!"

"I will not!"

"You will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"Will too!"

"All right, that's enough, you two! QUIT IT!" Katy fumes, her patience wearing thin. "We really should be thinking of a way out of here! Now..." Katy takes a breath, "Lammy, how did you escape the island last time?"

"By fax."

"When you were running from me, you coward!" Rammy says with a frown.

"... by fax?" Katy blinks. "Oooookay. Then we just got to find this fax machine." She pauses a bit. "Should we reopen the door now and see if anything's changed?"

"Let's find out now," says Parappa as he goes over to the cellar door. Rammy crosses her arms over her chest with a slight "Like, I don't care" frown, while Lammy watches him eagerly, as he opens the door to reveal...

...a hallway similar to the one Teriyaki Yoko and MilkCan went through on their way to the cellar. It's a little darker than before, however...

Parappa sighs with relief anyway. "Good, we have something normal."

"Hmmmm," goes Ma-san as she rubs under her chin suspiciously.

Parappa starts to step out into the hallway, when Rammy suddenly grabs his shoulder. "Wait," she says, snatching his hat and tossing it into the hall.

"Hey!" whines Parappa, grabbing the top of his head, mouth open. "Whatchoo do that for?"

His question is answered when he, Rammy, and the others witness a bunch of moths appear and tear the hat apart very gruesomly, going away as quickly as they appeared afterwards.

The MilkCan trio look to Parappa, scared out of their wits when they realize that that could have been him out there. Parappa cannot believe it. One is that his trademark headgear is totally destroyed. But one thing that surprises him more is that this archrival of Lammy's just did something that even leaves MilkCan with their jaws open.

He turns to her, staring up at her with big, puppy dog eyes. "Wow, you... saved me?" He then jumps up and down gratefully, saying, "Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!" And then, out of his control... he hugs her. Just like that. Boom.

Parappa finally realizes what he's doing and backs off quickly. "Uh, I mean, whatever," says Parappa, pretending to frown. "Wish you were down there, though." Katy, Ma-san, and even Lammy can't help but smirk.

Rammy smirks as well, but glares at him, warning, "Touch me again and get a guitar rammed up your woohoo."

Parappa gulps and nods, "Yes ma'am..."

"So anyway," says Katy, "what should we do, close the door and try again?"

"We could try, I guess..." mumbles Ma-san.

"What's the point?" Rammy asks Katy mostly, since she doesn't understand Ma-san's language. "There's no way to get past anything she would set to trap us. The only way out is to dig straight up through the building."

"Well, what can we use to dig?" asks Parappa, looking down at his paws. "I don't think our claws are that strong..."

"Nothing..." sighs Rammy, "we're trapped."

Disheartened, Parappa backs to a wall and slides down on his bottom, mumbling something under his breath.

"Well, this's just great," Katy frowns, kicking dust in frustration.

"I'm bored," yawns Ma-san. "I wanna watch TV."

"How can you think about TV at a time like this?" Katy asks, shaking her head. Ma-san shrugs in response.

"Well... like _hell_ I'm spending the rest of my life with YOU, I'm leaving," grumbles Rammy as she turns and heads back toward the other side of this creepy cellar, close to Parappa's cell. "I'm just going to die over here away from you people."

Katy rolls her eyes. "Whatever. You started this."

"Yeah, whatever, kitty bitch."

"_What was that_!?" flares Katy, on the verge of pounding Rammy's face in.

"Just ignore her, Katy..." sighs Parappa.

"Grrr... Fine!" growls the cat as she sits there Indian-style. Ma-san leans against the wall beside her and slides down with a yawn; Lammy whistles boredly. Rammy sits at the other side of the cellar far away from the group, her arms crossed and back turned to them, frowning deeply.

Parappa looks to dark, evil version of Lammy, concerned. He wonders why Rammy would want to kill Teriyaki Yoko so bad just for merely firing her. Sure, being fired always provokes anger in the former worker, but usually not enough to want to kill the former boss. 'She's hiding something,' Parappa muses to himself. 'I think there's much more to her story than that.' His curiousity gets the best of him, so, despite Rammy's attitude, he leaves the group to walk over to where Rammy is, sitting Indian-style beside her.

Rammy, who heard his footsteps, faces him and growls, "What did I just say, dogboy?"

"I heard what you said. I just felt like sitting over here a minute," Parappa tells her.

"Whatever," Rammy mumbles, turning away from him again.

They sit there for a minute or two in silence. Parappa then decides to let his curiousities out, feeling that Rammy should have cooled off by now. "So... Rammy..." says Parappa, twindling his fingers -- he almost snickers as he realizes that he's starting to pick up Lammy's habits.

"What?" frowns Rammy, though in a tone not as angry as before.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Whatever."

"Are you sure you want to kill Teriyaki Yoko and Lammy _just because_ you got fired? Or... is it because of something else?"

"None of your business."

"Come on, Rammy... You can tell me. I mean... heck, we have nothing else to do, anyway. So out with it. I promise I won't laugh, if that's what you're afraid of."

Rammy sits there in silence, contemplating. It's true that there is nothing to do in this hellhole of a prison besides sit there and die. But being laughed at isn't really what she is bothering her. It's her background story; something that really does not wish to think about. She would bust open this weird puppy for reminding her again (not that she can ever forget anyway), but, for the sake of getting rid of or at least reducing boredom, she turns to him and sighs, smirking a bit.

"Fine, you win," she says. Parappa smiles and sits right beside her, ushering her to tell her story. Taking a deep breath, Rammy begins:

"I wouldn't say I have much of a past. In fact, my past is pretty darn short. See, when Teriyaki Yoko first began her singing career here, she wanted a guitar player, in hopes of having a wider audience. None of the people on the island were electric guitar-playing experts. So... she decided to create one. Since her theme is darkness she wanted someone, well, dark. Like a dark version of a guitar expert. But she can only create one if that person is closest to her. And so... I was born."

"Teriyaki Yoko _created_ you?" Parappa gasps.

"Yeah. I wasn't born as a baby. I have no childhood or anything. I was just... artifically created. Just to serve her and her band."

"Man... I never knew," says Parappa sympathetically, his ears drooping. "That's really sad." Then a thought came to her mind. "Wait, this could explain why you look like Lammy! Lammy must have been the closest guitar expert in range, so you turned out to be a dark version of her."

"Yeah... I guess so," nods Rammy, this realization never hitting her ever since she first met Lammy. Quite interesting, indeed. "Anyway, I played for her for a while, but I had a problem: I was late a lot."

Parappa opens his mouth to say that Lammy is tardy many times too, and so must have gotten that from her, but decides to let Rammy continue.

"After being late so many times, Teriyaki Yoko punished me. Her punishments were... the torture room." Parappa looks to her sadly as Rammy's expression suddenly changes to depression and anger at the memory of those nightmarish times. "She unleashed a variety of things to torture me. Like using that medieval thing that painfully stretches out your limbs. Or hanging me upside down with a rope for a whole hour (major headache!). Or slashes her energy-like whip against me. Or... the worse of all... her electrical attacks. She constantly throws bolts after bolts of electricity, for as long as she pleases. She didn't use enough power to kill me, but sometimes I wished it DID kill me...." She shudders, almost feeling the excruciating pain of Teriyaki Yoko's power again.

"That... that monster..." growls Parappa, feeling his blood boil. "Why didn't you just fight back?"

"Well, she _is_... or _was_ my boss, dogboy," says Rammy. "And if it wasn't for her, I probably would have nowhere else to go. Besides... she's way more powerful than I am. She's a master sorceress. She claims herself to be the queen of darkness or whatever, and she has the power, the attitude, and the lack of showing mercy to back them up. She's definently not the person you see onstage -- In reality, she is a merciless, black-hearted, monstrous bitch!

"Then... one day--that is, just several months ago--I was late again. I thought the show would be on hold until I arrived... But on my way there, I heard that the show is over already. I wondered how can that be without me, and they said that somebody was already playing the guitar for Teriyaki Yoko. So I rushed back to the theater... And that's when I saw HER!" Rammy growls, pointing to the direction of Lammy, who is still listening to her story quietly without Rammy and Parappa's knowing. "I tried to get Lammy right there, but she got away. Teriyaki Yoko, who didn't care that her agent and cronies made a mistake and thought Lammy was me, tossed me in that same dreaded place and tortured me again in her room for being late more than ever. I was so used to it by now it was like a daily chore you that you just get over with. I thought she would let me off again...

"But she said instead, in these exact words." Then, imitating Teriyaki Yoko's voice the best she can, she growls: " 'If you are going to be so late that I needed to find an _emergency_ guitar player replacement, then why must I keep (bleep) like you!? You no longer deserve to be _my_ servant! You... are... FIRED!!' " Sighing, Rammy returns to her normal voice, saying, "So she banished me from the island."

Parappa sighs with her; never before has he felt so much sympathy for somebody than for Rammy. What a dark past... "So... You're here for payback," he says.

"Right! I was beyond pissed off. I mean, I did everything for her, I played for her concerts, I put up with her punishments as best as I could... and she _fires_ me!? I'll get her for this... along with that Lammy whore -- it's because of _her_ I got fired in the first place!"

"She's not a whore!" says an upset Parappa, not at all liking the insult thrown to his friend.

"Whatever. She'll still pay."

"Rammy, there's no need for that."

"And why not?"

" 'Cause... Didn't you hear what she said? She was _forced_ to perform. It wasn't like she intentionally had you punished. You know how stupid some meer cronies can be; they obviously mistook Lammy as you, and brought her to Teriyaki Yoko to play for that concert. Now can you really blame Lammy for a mistake like that?"

Rammy stares at him for a long time... It's as if she is considering his words, as she scratches under her chin in a Thinker pose. But she puts on her attitude face again and says, "I still feel like beating her up." Parappa sighs in response.

"Anyway..." Rammy continues, seriously, "I don't often tell my thoughts to other people. In fact, you're the first, dogboy. I don't know, it just feels... kinda good."

Parappa smiles a little. "Sharing your feelings and talking things out usually makes someone feel better."

"Then... I guess it's a good thing you came over here to bother me. Ummmmm..." her face twists into disgust as she struggles with the words, "T... Th... Than... Thank... y... you!" Rammy tries not to gag.

"You're welcome, Rammy," Parappa says, smiling. Rammy looks to him again. This is the weirdest person she has ever met in her short life. Here she is with the desire to kill or at least totally beat the heck out of one of his friends, and yet here he is coming over here and being... being... _nice_ to her! Nobody has ever been this kind to her ever since the day of her creation. Something about this is making her feel... warm inside-- An unknown feeling she has never experienced before. And, not knowing what she's doing, her frown very slowly turns upside down...

"Heeeeyyyyy," gasps Parappa playfully, "you're smiling!"

The moment she hears the word 'smiling', she quickly shakes her head and her frown returns. "I am not!" she protests. "My mouth had a... slight inch, that's all." Parappa laughs a bit, still smiling at her. Those strange feelings return to her suddenly and she looks away. "And stop looking at me like that!" she growls. "You shouldn't be smiling; I'm still gonna get back at Lammy one way or another. Got that? I'm gonna so get that wuss!"

She angrily points to the direction of the mentioned rival. But instead of feeling empty space, she instead feels something furry. She slowly turns around to discover her finger right on the cheek of Lammy, who is, with the other girls, right behind her and Parappa! Startled, Rammy backs off, shaking her fist at all of them. "Hey, don't creep up on me like that!"

"Wow, Rammy, you sound like you were scared," Katy teases.

"I was NOT!" growls Rammy viciously. "What are you doing over here anyway?"

"W-W-Well," stutters Lammy, twidling her fingers, "we came over to tell you that we got an idea, when we heard you telling Parappa about your past. Ummm... I'm sorry about all that stuff that happened to you. But it wasn't my fault." Raising her voice slightly, she adds, "And I'm _not_ a wuss!"

"Whatever," says Rammy, crossing her arms impatiently. "What's your lame idea?"

Katy frowns at the 'lame' part but replies, "Since you said that the only way out is to dig our way through, we decided we let Ma-san here be the digger. She's pretty darn strong!" Ma-san flexes her arms proudly.

Rammy cannot help but snicker. "That shrimp? Hah."

But Katy smirks, "She may be little, but her strength isn't something to laugh at her about."

"Please," says Rammy, shaking her head, "give me a break."

Ma-san replies in some weird mumbo-jumbo that Rammy does not understand. Katy translates for her: "Hmmm, a non-believer. Looks like I'll have to make you look stupid." Rammy simply shrugs and ushers her to go ahead and try her ridiculous idea.

The others back out as Ma-san walks over to the creepy cellar wall. She cracks her knuckles and, with power that could put many pro-wrestlers to shame, she begins pounding... and pounding... and pounding... Until the wall is reduced to a large hole, with debris lying around like a mighty bulldozer tore through it.

"Great!" exclaims Lammy happily.

"What did I tell you?" says Katy to Rammy, smirking.

"Lucky she hit a weak spot," replies Rammy, smirking back.

"Uh-huh, surrrre," says Ma-san. Rammy doesn't need a translator to know what Ma-san said; her expression is enough. But Rammy shrugs it off.

"Good work, Ma-san!" compliments Parappa. "Let's go!"

* * * * *

And so Ma-san leads the others into the newly-formed hole, silently "digging" any obstacles in this tunnel.

"A-A-Any idea how we get out of h-h-here?" mumbles Lammy, shuddering because their surroundings is darker and creepier than before.

"I don't know," replies Parappa. "We just gotta keep moving on until we find a way. It's either go through here or have the moths eat us alive."

"Actually, the killer bunnies are probably out by now," smirks Rammy.

Lammy's eyes widen in fear. "K-Killer bunnies!?"

"What's wrong, Lammy?" asks a concerned Parappa.

"I... kinda had a slightly bad experience with rabbits some months ago," she responds, nervously playing with her hair.

Rammy smirks and shakes her head at her. 'What a big baby,' she mumbles to herself.

Katy, too, shakes her head, but not at Lammy. "Killer bunnies? Now I've heard everything..."

"Well, anyway... I wonder where this tunnel leads to."

"Wherever it is, it has to be better than here," says Lammy in a low voice.

Eventually, they (well, Ma-san technically) burst through a wall and climb out of the tunnel, entering a large, uneasy-feeling dark room of some sort.

"Where are we NOW?" cries Lammy, losing her patience.

"This looks like the dungeon." Then, smirking, she says, "There's a way out of HERE, if we live that long."

"... Whatcha mean by that?" asks Parappa, shaking in fear a little. "We'll make it out alive... won't we?"

"I say we have about a five percent chance."

Katy Kat shrugs. "Well then, might as well use that five percent to get the heck out of this place."

"Sure... but first, I'm killing Lammy," says Rammy simply.

"What? Why?" asks Lammy, trembling and backing off, for she thought Rammy had forgotten about that by now.

"I'll be damned if it's one of HER traps that kills you instead of me doing it."

"Oh, come on, enough of that," says Parappa exasperatedly, stepping in front of Lammy, shielding her. "Leave her alone."

"Make me!" Rammy challenges, balling her fists and putting them up. But Parappa doesn't move an inch. Katy and Ma-san blink and stare at him-- They can't tell if he's being really brave or really stupid. Lammy, too, looks at him, and can't help but admire the way he's standing up to her.

"So beat me up already; I won't let you hurt her, Rammy," frowns Parappa.

" 'Kay," smirks Rammy, unleashing a slight jab.

"HEY!" frowns Lammy. But Parappa continues to stand there, staring back at Rammy with a frown. Rammy pauses a bit and punches him again. "What was THAT for?" asks the colored lamb.

"He kept looking at me," the dark lamb replies.

"Oh really..." Parappa mutters, rubbing his hurt cheek with a smirk.

"Duh."

Parappa gives her the big, puppy dog eye look playfully. Katy, slapping her paw to her face in disbelief, grumbles 'Parappa...' as Rammy slaps the dog clear across the face. Annoyed, Katy gets between the two, saying, "All right, knock it off you two! Let's just find a way out of this weird place. It gives me the chills. Brrr," she shivers.

"Scaredy cat," Ma-san teases.

"Am not!"

"Which way do we go?" asks Lammy.

"Flip a coin, maybe?" suggest her dark self.

"Here's one right here," says Parappa, taking out the penny he used back at Beard Burger from his pocket.

"Okay, heads we go left," says Lammy. So Parappa flips the coin into the air. It drops down and lands on the cold, hard floor, spinning around and around and around....

"Well... what does it say?" Rammy asks.

"It's..." begins Lammy, when the penny lands on its edge, "... a tie."

Parappa sighs in even more exasperation. "Not again..."

"Knock it over," says Rammy.

Ma-san thinks carefully of this as she looks carefully at the coin. She quietly goes over to one spot and stomps on the ground with one foot, to try to knock the coin on Heads, saying a sarcastic "Oops." But instead the copper piece of change rolls away.

"What the heck?" says Lammy as she watches the coin roll away from the group.

"Man, my penny sure likes toying around," mumbles Parappa, scratching his head.

"Well, after it!"

So the group of five chase after the rolling penny, much to the dismay of Parappa, who had faced a similar misery before.

"It has to stop somewhere!" shouts Lammy.

"Well, why don't we just try to step on it?" suggests Ma-san.

"I guess... hey look!" Lammy and the rest look up, seeing a door with light shining through...

"Wow..." Rammy slightly gasps, staring at the exit with a shake of her head.

Parappa smiles. "Wow. It's as if the penny had a mind of its own or something, and just led us to where we want."

"Now you're being stupid," she says to him.

"_Being_? He's always been that way," laughs Ma-san.

However, Parappa whirls and points to the littlest member with a frown. "Hey! I heard that; don't think I can't understand you... 'cause now I can." He half-smiles, half-frowns ass he picks up his penny.

"...oops," mumbles Ma-san as she covers her mouth. She failed to remember that if one spends enough time hanging around her, he or she will gradually begin to understand her language, which explains why only Lammy and Katy could know what she says until now.

"Why? What'd she say?" asks Rammy, blinking.

"Forget it, it's an old joke," says Lammy, wavering her paw, as if to tell the subject to go away. "Let's just get out of here while we can!"

So the fivesom dash into the exit, bathed in its light. They shield their eyes as they step through, and when they uncover their eyes, they find themselves in...

... Teriyaki Yoko's dressing room.

"What? HEY!!" screams Yoko as she covers herself up quickly.

Parappa almost instantly looks down on the floor, trying not to grin. "Well... look on the _bright_ side: At least we're not in some creepy dungeon or cellar, or a mock rollercoaster ride, or in a _bare_ hallway with killer moths. We certainly made it out of there in a _flash_..."

The gang silently look to him, then at their... situation. They're in big trouble now.

* * * * *

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6

"Revenge is Bittersweet," Chapter Six

by DragonShadow83 and VTBOTS

--------------------

"WHAT are you doing here!?" demands an extremely ticked-off Teriyaki Yoko, glaring death glares at the group of fives who somehow appeared in her dressing room.

"Getting the heck out, that's what!" shouts an enthusiastic Katy Kat.

"You can't leave!" declares Yoko, still desperately covering herself in the towel wrapped around her.

"Hey wait a minute, why am I standing with the GOOD guys!?" wonders Rammy out loud.

"Because you're good, too?" says Parappa. "Besides, you want Teriyaki Yoko, too, so now here's your chance with her guard down, if you get what I mean."

"I'm supposed to be killing Lammy, not Teriyaki! Don't you remember what I said about that witch!?" says Rammy, worriness appearing on her face, which is rare for her.

"ENOUGH!" screams Teriyaki Yoko, raising her hand as if to chant something.

Not paying the sorceress much mind at the moment, Parappa continues to whisper to Rammy impatiently, "I know you want Lammy, but I think it's best you help us stop Teriyaki Yoko; she's much more dangerous."

"Shouldn't we be trying to escape instead of whispering?" grumbles Katy.

"Screw you guys! I'm not fighting her! You're on your own!" announces Rammy as she high-tails it for the exit.

But Yoko won't have that. "Nobody's going anywhere, traitor!" she declares as suddenly the door slams, spikes sticking out over a foot long.

"Yeeg!" grunts Rammy, stopping JUST in time before she could impale herself into the trap.

Then, suddenly filling with courage, Parappa stands, hardly even caring that there's a nearly naked woman in the middle of the room anymore. "Looks like we're trapped here," says Parappa, frowning deeply. "Guess we gotta _fight_ our way out."

"We're not fighters!" shouts a frightened Lammy, twindling her thumbs nervously.

"I know that, and I know that you especially don't like fighting, but..." Katy begins, when she suddenly remembers an incident involving two guys bullying her friend. But the day was saved when Katy got her to rock on her guitar, taking care of the offenders. Katy then looks towards Rammy, who's in the far back watching the incoming fray. She wonders... "Yo Rammy, your guitar!" Katy calls. "Jam on it and see if something will happen!"

Rammy knows what Katy Kat is talking about, and immediately shakes her head no. "Are you nuts?" she says. "I'm not fighting her! She's crazy!"

Suddenly, a blood-curling scream from Lammy echoes throughout the room when spikes come up out of the floor, stopping just _BARELY_ inside her, uh... 'opening.' "SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!!" she yells, terribly frightened and badly shaking.

Suddenly filling with rage, Ma-san leaps on top of Teriyaki Yoko with gritted teeth, ferociously grabbing the antennae thingies on her head, threatening to yank them off.

"OW!" the sorceress exclaims. "Little brat!"

Electricity sparks between the antennae, running through Ma-san. Howling in pain, Ma-san lets go and falls to the floor, half-conscious. Katy calls out Ma-san's name and immediately checks on her-- Lammy would do the same if she wasn't... occupied. Rammy cringes as she has a powerful reminder of the shock torture this witch gave her.

"All right.... Now I'm mad!" Parappa states as he rolls up the fur of his arms (as much as he can) since his shirt has no sleeves, and then tackles the enemy down to the floor, in her towel and all, rolling all over the place and knocking down obstacles such as nightstands and decorative figurines and such in the process. He continously drives his fist into her face, her antennae, anything to knock her unconscious and/or break the spell out of the only exit.

During the struggle the towel comes off, leaving Parappa rolling on top of a very bare (and very enraged) Teriyaki Yoko.

"Yaaa!" he yelps as he backs away toward Lammy, who is fidgetting nervously, stilled 'pinned' by the spike. Katy, who has seen the whole thing, can only slap her paw to her face.

Yoko stands up, growling, "How DARE you paw at me like that!" With a snap of her fingers her original clothing float over to her and she quickly slips it on. While Yoko is busy, Parappa slowly helps Lammy out of her predictament. The moment she is set down on the floor, she breathes a HEAVY sigh of relief.

Katy finally slides her paw off of her face, saying, "Never let a puppy do a cat's job." She extends her claws, screeching "Rrrreeeeeoooowwwwww!" as she leaps toward her opponent, ready to claw the dark mistress within every inch of her life.

But the witch puts her hand forward and chants something, letting it flash while chanting something quickly until a dark version of Katy appears.

"What the--!?" is all Katy can manage to get out when her dark self, screeching "ROWR!", extends her claws and meets Katy in mid-air.

"Meet Kary!" says Teriyaki Yoko with a smirk. "I had a feeling when I watched you perform your first concert via television that you are a tough cookie, but I wasn't sure. But when I viewed your attitude that you displayed here, it confirmed everything. So I created a dark version of you; someone with the same toughness and valiance as you, except Kary here is more vicious and evil. Kind of like how I created Rammy out of _you_, you crowd-stealer!" she shouts accusingly at Lammy, pointing over to her dark self, Rammy, who crosses her arms and growls.

"Why is everyone saying I stole something from them!?" says Lammy, frustrated. "What did I 'steal' from _you_?"

"_My_ audience, of course!" Teriyaki Yoko replies viciously. "You might have possibly saved my concert that day, but since then people kept talking about you, you, you! What about me!? It was MY concert! They should be cheering ME on, not YOU!"

"Well, can you get mad at her for being good?" smirks Parappa, half-joking, half-serious. Rammy, too, smirks.

"Shut up!" Yoko yells, unleashing a minor wind spell to force him to the wall. Then she whirls at Rammy. "And you? What are _you_ doing here? I fired you!"

Rammy frowns deeply, immediately letting out her anger, "I'm here to get back at you for everything you did to me! You put me through so much pain, so much misery... and sometimes, so much depression! And then you _dare_ to fire me just because your idiots thought Lammy was me and made her play!? After everything I've done for you!"

"All you've done was be late, and you nearly ruined my last concert! Besides, why are you feeling like I'm singling you out!?"

"Huh!?" say Rammy, Parappa, and Lammy (the only three actaully listening at the moment) simultaneously.

"What, did you think you, Rammy, were the only one I punish? I do it to many of my workers."

"You... torture your own workers?" says Parappa in disbelief. "Nobody tried to sue or arrest you or anything!?"

"Now who would DARE arrest me, Teriyaki Yoko?" she states with a proud smirk. "After having a taste of my power, they would be too terrified to get me in trouble." Then, facing Rammy again, she says, "Usually my workers--most of them my creations--quickly swore to obey my orders after even one torture. But you.... You were a special case. You continued to display rebellious attitude despite the torture I give you. I thought you would quit after punishing you so many times, but you kept going and going.

"Then I finally got a look into your eyes.... I had the feeling that one day you would betray me, and attempt to ruin or even kill me. So I thrusted harsher punishments against you, in hopes of giving you second thoughts..." Then, Teriyaki Yoko's tone grows very dark and harsh, growling, "But... it looks like I should have KILLED you instead!"

Rammy stares back at her with a dark glare of her own.

"What? Do you want to fight me? HUH!? Well, are you!?"

Rammy doesn't do anything. All that motivation of wanting revenge against her suddenly disappeared; if one looks carefully, they could see her trembling.

"Thought so!" growls Teriyaki Yoko, viciously. Parappa and even Lammy look at Rammy sympathetically, while the witch turns her attention to the battle between Katy and Kary, smiling with satisfaction.

A dazed Ma-san wakes up for a minute, sees the two cats, and mumbles with a trembling voice, "Two Katies?" before fainting. "As if one Katy wasn't enough..." she whispers to herself.

Katy Kat looks over her dark self over, "tsk"'ing and shaking her head. "Such tacky taste in color and clothing. You totally need some fashion sense..."

"At least I don't look like a damn Care Bear or soemthing!" Kary retorts.

"WHAT!?" Taking that as a major insult, Katy extends her claws again and slashes across Kary's face ferociously.

"Rawr!" growls Kary, who counters with a slash of her own, tagging Katy's ear.

"Ow! Why you little..." Katy says through gritted teeth, extending her claws yet again.

"Come on!" Kary matches her claws against Katy's.

"My claws are longer than yours!" taunts the blue cat, raspberrying.

"No, they just took longer coming out of those scrawny arms of yours!" counters the dark cat, laughing.

"Stop it with the skinny jokes!" shouts an offended Katy, swiping her claws across her counterpart's midsection fiercely.

"Hah, come on!" the counterpart taunts, and then the two get into yet another catfight.

Sweatdropping at the girls, Parappa whispers to Lammy, "If Teriyaki Yoko is able to create dark versions of us, then this could mean _big_ trouble. There HAS to be someway to cancel her magic, or at least weaken it enough so that we can find a way out of here. Maybe if I can sneak behind her and surprise her..."

Lammy nods a 'Go for it', and Parappa nods back. Then, taking a breath, he begins crawling sneakily out of the fray, trying to get behind Teriyaki who is viewing the fight with slight interest. When he finally reaches her blind side, he produces a joke buzzer from his pocket, silently thanking PJ for this gift 'given' to him as he prank from a couple of weeks ago as he straps it around his paw.

Suddenly sensing something, Teriyaki turns and looks down at him, glaring. "What are you doing?"

"Guess!" Parappa smirks as he thrusts the buzzer quite a shocking treatment. "Don't like it when it's done to _you_, do you!?"

Teriyaki Yoko screams as the electricity runs through her. The electricity all goes straight to her antennae, being discharged randomly across the room.

"YIE!" yells Lammy as she leaps out of the way of one bolt.

"YAGH!" Rammy isn't so fortunate, for she jumps too late and is struck by one. The discharge runs between her and Teriyaki continuously. "RAGH!"

"AGH!" screams Teriyaki Yoko as she finally gets a taste of her own medicine. Katy and Kary stop their fighting to see this strange sight.

"...well... this is quite a shocker," Katy comments.

"Uhhh... whoops," says Parappa, scratching behind his head. "What an electrifying mistake I made."

"This sure sparks my interest a little," says Lammy

Ma-san, who has slowly regained full consciousness, frowns. "Enough with the revolting jokes," she says... then pauses... "D'OH!"

"What's going on!?" worries Kary.

"Feedback!" Teriyaki screams as the electricity running between her and Rammy grows stronger... It seems as if the discharge is becoming a little _too_ unstable...

"Hey, what's... going on?" says Parappa, backing off and shaking his head in worriness. "This thing...," he looks to his buzzer, "couldn't have been _that_ strong against her." Then he looks over at the two again, saying, "I didn't want to hurt Rammy, really, I didn't! But why is the discharge becoming stronger? I don't like the looks of this..."

"If Teriyaki made her," theorizes Lammy, "then there must be something in them both together that's... volatile. Connecting them... they're going to destroy this whole place!" she suddenly exclaims.

"What? Then we have to get out of here!" Katy shouts. She points over to the exit-- The spike trap is gone.

"Hey, what about me!?" yells an annoyed Kary.

"Nothing of hers is... getting out alive!" declares Rammy, grabbing Kary and pulling her into the discharge, causing the unstableness to grow even more. She screams like the whiney cat she is.

"Come on guys!" Lammy yells. She, Katy, Parappa, and a barely injured Ma-san all high-tail it to the exit out of the brightly-flashing room. Parappa pauses, though, and looks back at Rammy, still getting electrocuted and trying to resist any more screaming. He stares at her for a while and then says, sadly, "Sorry..." before turning to catch up to her friends, secretly wondering if Rammy heard him.

Little does he know that Rammy looks back after him, smiling a bit before turning back to her archnemesis, Teriyaki Yoko.

"If I don't survive this... at least I'll know I'll have half of my revenge," states Rammy, but smirks, "Keyword is if."

"You think I, Teriyaki Yoko, evil queen, mistress of darkness am going to be beaten like this!? You and I both know it'll take a little more than a creator-to-creation unstabled discharge to defeat ME!!!"

"...... We'll see," Rammy says, smirking a bit and grabbing unto her enemy tighter. "We'll see...."

* * * * *

MilkCan and Parappa burst through the front door of the theater, leaping out just before it all goes up. The gang drop facedown on the ground, paws over their heads to protect them from the scattering debris.

"Man!" says Parappa excitedly, "and I thought stuff like this only happen in the movies!"

"And cartoons!" Lammy adds. Another explosion occurs, though, burning them all until they're completely black, save for their big, animeish eyes. "Puh... usually people escape unscathed like that..."

"Well, at least we're alive," Katy reminds them.

"Yeah," says Parappa. "But Rammy... and all those people inside... I'm not so sure of...." Looking at the burning theater one more time, he collapses on his knees. "What... what have I done??" he whimpers.

"They were all probably her creations anyway..." Lammy says, coughing from the smoke.

"Probably, but... I was hoping we could bring the good out of Rammy. She wanted to take down Teriyaki Yoko herself, I'm quite sure, but I guess she backed down because she (Rammy) remembered how powerful she was..."

"Maybe."

Katy sighs, "Well, that fax machine thing you told us about, Lammy, most likely was inside. So _now_ how are we going to get back home?"

"I certainly don't wanna swim there," Ma-san says, looking out into the far ocean.

"Well, Chop-Chop Master Onion got us here somehow... maybe we can leave the same way."

"... how _did_ you girls get here, anyway?" says Parappa, wanting that question answered for quite a while.

"Uhhhhh...." Katy and Ma-san say simultaneously, both scratching behind their necks nervously.

Lammy strokes her chin and shrugs... then socks Parappa, knocking him out.

"Whoa!" exclaims an impressed Ma-san. "Sweet punch, Lammy, never knew you had it in ya!"

"We have to get home somehow," she sighs as she knocks out both Ma-san and Katy... but pauses. "How the heck do I knock MYSELF out?" She sits down on the ground, sighing.

* * * * *

Back at the campsite...

"Ah, you must give me the pleasure of your company this evening," says Chop-Chop, sitting in front of a still nude Amy.

"Why should I?" says Amy, filing her nails. "After what you did to those girls?"

"What I did?" asks Chop-Chop, confused.

"I don't think you really had to strip them down... Poor girls were probably humiliated to death."

"You cannot travel by spirit when weighed down by physical things."

"Yeah, sure..." Amy pauses. "I wonder what's taking them so long to get their friend? They should be back by now." She pauses again. "Uh, they _do_ know how to return, right?"

"... they're intelligent girls. I'm sure they'll figure it out." He then turns as Parappa, Katy, and Ma-san appear behind him, laying on the ground, slowly regaining consciousness. "Ah, here we are."

Waking up, Parappa groans, "Ohhhh... Man, for someone who's so afraid of fighting, she sure gots a mean paw there!" Then, looking around him, he says, "Hey, where are we? And where is Lammy?"

Katy stands up, though wobbly. "The last thing I remember is her knocking the three of us out." She pauses. "Then that means she's by herself back on the island!"

"You have returned, and brought your friend with you?" Chop-Chop asks.

"Yeah, that would be him," says Ma-san, pointing to Parappa. "But Lammy hasn't come back yet..." Katy translates before Chop-Chop could even open his mouth to ask.

"She will fall asleep soon. ... or starve to death," he says plainly.

"Let's hope the former happens," whimpers Parappa, twiddling his fingers nervously. When he gets a good look at what he is doing... "Gosh! Now I'm getting Lammy's habits!"

So they all sit there and wait silently. They wait...

and wait...

and wait...

and wait some more...

and then... oh, looks like there's something there! No, it was just a firefly. So they wait some more...

and wait...

and wait...

until finally....

Ma-san snaps! "What's taking her so (bleep)-ing long, it can't take that long to (bleep)-ing fall asleep!" she screams.

"It's only been ten minutes," says Chop-Chop, not needing a translator to know what she may have said.

"It's okay Ma-san, I'm worried, too," Parappa whispers, patting her shoulder a couple of times.

"W-Worried? Who says I'm worried? I just don't feel like standing around. Yeah, that's it!" she declares, crossing her arms. Katy smirks, trying to resist a laugh.

* * * * *  
  
Back on the island, Lammy stands up. "Grrr.... this is nuts! Hmmm." She walks up to a tree. "I can't believe this!" She kicks it with mighty frustration, bringing a coconut down to knock her out cold.

* * * * *  
  
Parappa sighs sadly, stuffing his paws into his pockets. "... I guess she's not coming back...." he whimpers, a tear beginning to fall from eyes.

Putting a comfortable paw on his shoulder, Katy suggests, "Let's go home..."

"Damn that lamb," grumbles Ma-san, just about ready to walk away when Lammy appears behind them, still out cold.

"LAMMY!" Parappa exclaims, immediately running up to her unconscious body.

"Well, whaddaya know..." says Ma-san, smiling a bit with relief along with Katy.

Amy would be smiling, too, if she wasn't looking suspicious. Somehow they are able to return even _with_ their clothes on...

Parappa carries the cute, sleeping lamb in his arms, checking on her. She only mumbles.

Ma-san nudges Parappa with a smirk, and teases, "Doesn't she look cute when she's asleep like that?" Parappa bites his lower lip silently, blushing a little, and is relieved that he would stay out of the subject when Lammy begins to stir.

"Ugh..." she opens one eye, looking up at the dog and rubbing her head, "what hit me..."

"I'm so glad you're back, Lammy," Parappa says in a low voice, hugging her close, another tear falling.

Lammy just blinks. "... uuuhhh..."

"Oh, quiet and hug him back," says Katy, "he was ready to cry like a little baby."

"Was n--!" protests Parappa, but is cut off when Lammy, shrugging, hugs him back.

"You know, dogboy, you look WAY better with her than Sunny anyday," smirks Ma-san.

"Who says we're together anyway?" says Lammy.

"Yeah," nods Parappa, "who says?" He and Lammy stare at each other's big, cutesy eyes in silence for what feels like, to them, forever. But then Lammy motions to him that they're in an unconvincing position, and Parappa's cheeks glow slightly red, setting her down and nodding apologetically. Ma-san practically laughs.

Suddenly, Katy gasps in sudden remembrance. "Oh my gosh, our gig! Come on, we have to go back and set up!"

"Hey, what 'bout me?" asks Parappa.

"You can... stay in the audience!" Lammy quickly says before running after her friends.

'Stay in the audience... oh well,' thinks the dog as he heads for the site of the concert himself.

When the others are gone, Chop-Chop turns to Amy and smiles. "Now that the others are gone, how about you and I--"

"Forget it!" Amy cuts him off, kicking a piece of the burning firewood right into his lower region. Chop-Chop doubles over in pain and collapses as Amy walks away, snatching her clothing and crossing her arms.

"Love that woman..." whispers the onion man in a high-pitched voice.

* * * * *

"Come on guys," says Lammy as she and her two friends dash towards their respective homes, "we have to get our instruments... and get dressed for the show." Although the wardrobe they're in now are beautiful in their eyes, they still much rather wear their usual MilkCan clothing that everyone would recognize.

"Right!" Katy and Ma-san agree.

They arrive at Lammy's apartment complex, and she runs up to her place.

"Geez," says Katy as she checks her watch, "now I'm starting to pick up Lammy's _tardy_ habits! C'mon, we better be heading to our places, too!"

And they do so, getting dressed VERY quickly, then returning to the studio to retrieve their instruments that they left behind. Then they sprint towards the place where their concert is held. In her haste, Lammy slams into a wall.

"Need to steer better..." she groans as she recovers and continues running towards the stage. The group is slowed again when Katy trips and lands right on her face.

"And they say cats land on their feet..." mumbles Katy.

"Darn these big feet of mine!" Ma-san complains, panting.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Parappa stands in the audience, tapping his foot repeatedly, arms crossed. "Where are those girls..." he whispers to himself. "They're going to be late. Darn..." he feels the top of his head, "wish I had my hat, I feel naked without it."

But he ignores that when MilkCan _finally_ arrive. Lammy makes it onto the stage, shouting into the mic accidently, "WE MADE IT!!" She stops as the entire audience cringes. "Oops... sorry!"

"Are you ready girls?" Katy says as she puts the mic away for a minute.

"I'm always ready!" shouts a confident Ma-san, whirling her drumsticks.

"Okay! One... two... one, two, three, FOUR!"

The audience explodes in cheers almost immediately when MilkCan begins playing... especially when they hear Katy Kat's singing voice.

Parappa smiles and watches the band play. He can never get tired of watching them perform. He is so into it that he barely notices his former girlfriend walk up behind him.

"Hey," greets Sunny, waving.

"Hi, Sunny," Parappa greets back. "Nice to see ya again. Man, you wouldn't believe what an adventure MilkCan and I had today!"

"I'm sure."

"I'll tell you about it later. Let's just enjoy the concert," suggests Parappa, smiling a bit.

"Okay," Sunny nods, smiling back as she and Parappa turn to do just that.

'I guess things will finally be back to normal,' Parappa states in his mind. 'Well, not totally... Sunny and I have broken up, and I don't think any of us can get over what happened at Teriyaki Yoko's island. I hope we don't get put through stuff like that again.' He looks to Lammy jamming on her guitar carefully. 'Then again... if it wasn't for everything that has happened these past few days, Lammy and I wouldn't have gotten so close... And maybe Rammy would never have smiled or felt good for even once in her life.' He shakes his head. 'Oh well. Back to normal, everyday life for me.'

Smiling to himself, he stops his thinking and watches MilkCan again. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he can't help but feeling that he will be thrusted into yet another adventure... just like always.

* * * * *

And so ends this Parappa and MilkCan's adventure. Thanks to them, the world is saved... even though the world wasn't _really_ in danger at all.

But even as this story includes, many questions still boggle: Will Lammy and Parappa truly be together someday? Will MilkCan become a bigger success? Will Sunny stay single or will she find a lucky plant in her life? Is it really the end of Teriyaki Yoko and Rammy? And where the heck is PJ Berri!?

[PJ Berri is busy stuffing himself with snacks at a table.]

Well, guess that answers _that_ question. Anyway, looks like you'll just have to stay tuned for yet another Parappa gang adventure. Same fandom... same author(s)!

* * * * *  
  
THE END


End file.
